My version of Angel Fever
by TheLastEcho
Summary: This is my version of the upcoming Angel Fever. I really want to share it with you! Leave coments, and notes, positive or negative! Paws Up
1. Chapter 1

It's been two days since the council was killed, and Mexico City was basically crushed to the ground. We've all decided to spend a few more days up here in the mountains outside of the city to rest up, and get situated. Plus Sam keeps complaining about his ankle hurting. So I guess Alex is waiting for him to stop complaining so we can get back on the road. But it's ok, it's nice up here, it kind of reminds me of when Alex and I were in the Sierra Nevada at the cabin. Only this time it's not just the two of us.

I'm sitting down the hill a little ways away from camp, in the grass looking over what use to be Mexico City. I still can't believe that the council is gone, that the Torre Mayor is still standing and how amazing it was that Seb and I were able to fly away from it. And I still can't believe that Razel might still be alive… great. But none of that is the reason why I haven't been normal the last couple of days, it's because I can't get what Alex said to me a few days ago out of my head. How he said he didn't trust me anymore. And then what we went through the other day, and what happened between us that night. I can't help but feel like maybe it all happened because he felt sorry for me or something. It makes me angry, queasy, like he was just using me. Like he doesn't feel the same way about me like he use to. Or if he did at all. What if the entire time he was saying he loves me was to just sleep with me? Would he do that to me? Suddenly I hear footsteps approaching me from behind. It's not Alex or Seb, because these have a slight stumble. It's Sam.

"Hey Willow. You ok? You've been down here for a while all by yourself." He says, as he sits in the grass a few feet away from me like I have some contagious illness and if he gets to close he'll catch it. For some reason I have a feeling like Alex sent him over here to make-a-mends with me because now we're going to have to work together.

I don't look over at him as I pull my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them hugging them tightly. "Hi Sam, yea I'm fine. Just have a lot on my mind." I said dryly.

I can see him out of the corner of my eye watching me, looking as if he's waiting for me to tell him the truth. He clears his throat and sits quietly for a few minutes. When he finally does speak he clears his throat once more "Look Willow, I know that you and I haven't been the best of friends. But I want to change that. I'd like to start over if that's ok with you. I truly am sorry for the way I acted and treated you and Seb, but especially you. When I found out that you're a half angel it just threw me, ok? And I truly am sorry I can't speak for Liz. But I'll do anything I can, to prove to you that you can trust me."

I didn't even glance at him as he spoke. Then I give a quiet short laugh, at the funny way his apology is almost like the one Alex gave me all those months ago. I swallow my throat dry and look over at him."Sam I'm not sitting down here alone because of you or Liz. Like I said I have a bunch of stuff on my mind that I'm trying to work through." I look away back at the fallen city. "Did Alex tell you to come over here and apologize to me?" I look back over at him, and frown my brow.

"No." he said, with no hesitation. "No, he didn't tell me to come apologize to you. I did that all on my own. I want to start over with you. Have a friendship and partnership with you." He frowns his brow at me. "Why would you think something like that? Alex isn't the boss of me, he's the leader of our group as AKs, he doesn't own me, or tell me what I do, or who to make friends with."

I sigh "It's just that, when Alex and I first met he kind of said almost the exact same thing. And I thought he might have told you what he said and tell you to come over here and say the same thing." My eyes soften as I look at him. "I'm sorry Sam. It was nice of you to come over and apologize."

He smiles and holds out his hand "How about we start over. Hi my name is Sam it's nice to meet you." He said.

I smile back and shake his hand "Hi Sam, I'm Willow. It's nice to meet you too." I let go of his hand and hug my knees again, looking back to the city. I can literally feel the tension between us fade away into nothing.

We sit there quiet for a while, finally Sam clears his throat and looks over at me. "So what's wrong?" I stay quiet for a few minutes. I can see him out of the corner of my eye looking me. He's not going to walk away, or let it drop until I tell him. "Willow, whatever it is you can talk to me. I swear, I know how to keep a secret, you can talk to me about anything I want you to know that. So come on tell." He said.

I let out a long breath, and then glance over at him. "I… it's just…" I sigh and look back to the city.

He follows my gaze. "Willow, there was nothing you could do to save the city it was going to happen whether or not the council was-"

I held up a hand to stop him. "Sam I know that nothing I did could stop the council from bringing the city down. That's not at all why I'm upset." I said. Not looking at him.

"Then what is it Willow?" he asked "I'm not leaving until you tell." I knew it, I think. "It's not about me is it?" I shook my head slowly. "Is it about Seb?" I shook my head again. "Liz?" I shook my head once again. "So it's about Alex." When I don't do anything, he knows that a yes. "What happened? You guys are back together, a happy couple right? What's the problem?" he said.


	2. Angel Fever

"Then what is it Willow?" he asked "I'm not leaving until you tell." I knew it, I think. "It's not about me is it?" I shake my head. "Is it about Seb?" I shake my head again. "Liz?" I shake my head once again. "So it's about Alex." When I don't do anything, he knows that a yes. "What happened? You guys are back together, a happy couple right. What's the problem?" he said.

I sighed and let go of my cramping legs and stretched them out avoiding his gaze.

"Willow, come on. Talk to me. I'm here as a friend to you. You can trust me." He said

When he said the word trust I grimaced and he noticed giving me a look of confusion.

"Sam." I said still looking out over the city. "It's not just about Alex… it's about a lot of things. I just-… I don't think I want to go to Nevada. I don't think I want to be fighting angels anymore…" I paused for a moment and looked down at my hands "I don't think Alex is in love with me anymore."

"Well now you're talking crazy." He said with a chuckle. "Fighting angels and all is one thing but Alex being in love with you. Believe me you have nothing to worry about there."

I looked over at him half glaring "Oh really, and how can you be so sure? You didn't hear what he said to me a few days ago, and you didn't see the hurt in his eyes when he said it!" I said my voice rising up an octave so it sounded more like I was yelling at him.

"No matter what happened a few days ago, you two are madly in love with one another. I've seen love before, and trust me you two have it." He said with a small smile.

I let out a heavy breath "Sam, you didn't hear the way he said he didn't trust me anymore. He was so angry with me, and so hurt. I'll never be able to get the look of his eyes out of my mind for as long as I live. I love Alex so much, I've never loved someone the way I do with him. I don't want to lose him-" my voice caught in my throat and tears threatened to stream down from my eyes. I put my hand over my face so Sam wouldn't see me cry.

"Willow, you can't beat yourself up for trying to protect him. It's not fair to you, and I know Alex wouldn't want you over here crying." He said.

He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it lightly. I sniffled a little and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. "Thanks Sam. It's nice to know I have a friend." I said and gave him a small smile.

He smiled back and took his hand from my shoulder. We sat there for another few minutes looking at the city. After another few quiet moments Sam's stomach rumbled.

"Damn I'm gettin' hungry." He said in his loud Texas accent. He stood up and looked down at me as he started to turn away back to camp. "You coming? I think supers probably ready by now."

Not taking my eyes away from the city I said. "Yea, I'll be up in a few minutes."

I saw him nod his head from the corner of my eye, and then he walked back up to camp. I sat there counting the minutes in my head, until I lost track after about 6 minutes. I laid back on the grass and looked up and the sky seeing all the stars starting to come out, and thought to myself after everything that's happened, it's funny how the skies can just go on with being beautiful while the world down here goes all to hell. I felt a fluttering inside my chest and knew it was my angel. I closed my eyes and shifted my conciseness to her. With a rippling feeling I left my human body on the ground. I started growing tall, and my wings appeared on my back beautiful, and white. I stretched my arms out in front of me and started to fly into the night sky. I floated up and up into the sky swirling and feeling the wind rush past my face and through my hair. I looked down at the ground and saw my human self still down lying in the grass, eyes closed, legs crossed at the ankles, hands behind her head. I flew over the trees and the clearing. I flew over our camp sight and saw everyone down on the ground sitting around the fire laughing and talking.

Suddenly Seb looked up and over his shoulder, as if he could have sensed me up in the air flying over head. I couldn't read his lips or hear what he said, but then he was looking over at Alex saying something to him, then pointing up in the air towards me. I could feel from all the way in the air Alex lifting up his conciseness through his chakra points. I saw him look up at me; he shook his head, then turned to Sam and say something. Sam pointed down towards the clearing where he and I were sitting and the next thing I knew Alex was running towards the clearing headed for my human self.

I turned on my wing, and headed by to my body. When I arrived I merged back with myself instantly. I didn't move yet, and let my entire conciseness fully come back to me.

Suddenly Alex was at my side hovering over me, looking over me closely.

"Willow are you ok?" He asked and he sucked in deep breathes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My angel just wanted to let loose a little and stretch her wings." I said, as I sat up brushing grass off of my shirt and jeans.

He laughed and pulled me into his arms. He tipped my chin up so I was looking into his face, and kissed my lips gently. I hesitated slightly, but then gave into the kiss hoping that he wouldn't notice. But I was wrong. Alex pulled back from me, and looked me in the eyes.

"Willow what's wrong?" He asked, his eyebrows coming together.

I sat in his arms trying my hardest to look like nothing was wrong, and gave a smile.

"Nothing's wrong. What would make you think something was wrong?" I said in a hurried tone. I really need to work on my lying.

"You know you're not a good liar right?" he said.

I sighed and looked him in the eyes. I knew there was no going back now I had to just saying it and get it over with.

"I love you Alex… but…" I said, and looked down at the ground.

"Willow I know you love me. I love you too. I-"

"Do you? Do you really love me?" I blurted out, cutting him off.

"What the hell would make you think I don't?" he asked. I could hear in his voice anger building up.

I swallowed the lump that had built up in my throat. I took a deep breath and look him right in the eyes. "Do you trust me?" I asked, in a low whisper because I could bring my voice to go any louder.

"Of course I trust you." He said and brushed a piece of my hair out of my face, and behind my ear.

"You said a few days ago that you didn't trust me anymore. It's been eating me a live inside. I can't tell you how sorry I am for what happened with Seb. I swear if it takes me the rest of my life, I'm going to get you to trust me again."

"Willow" he said in a low voice and pulled me into his arms more, and hugged me close to his body. "Yes I trust you. I'm so, so sorry for what I said that night. I swear to God I didn't mean any of it. I love you and I trust you with my life. You don't have to do anything Willow, there's nothing for you to try and fix, because nothing is broken. I swear."

He tilted my head up again and saw the tears that were rolling down my face. He used his thumb to wipe them again and held my face in both of his hands. He kissed my forehead softly, then my nose, then my lips with the softest most gentle kiss he's ever given me. I melted in his arms as he kissed me, putting my hands under his shirt, and ran my fingers over his stomach and chest, feeling his smooth skin and toned muscles. Our kiss deepened with an intensity so strong my heart began to flutter.

"I love you" He murmured against my lips.


	3. Chapter 3

"I love you" He murmured against my lips.

He kissed down my cheek and jaw line. He kissed my neck softly down to my shoulder then buried his face in my neck and hugged me close.

I trailed my hands up to his shoulders still under his shirt and held him tightly to my body. Tears still stung my eyes, and I blinked them away as I kissed the top of Alex's head as I rubbed my hands on his shoulders. He lifted his head and looked me in the eyes, giving me his famous half smile that sends my heart running a hundred miles a minute. I smiled back and tugged on his shirt slightly. His smile widened as he got my hint. He took one of his hands away from my back and pulled his shirt up and over his head tossing it to the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his lips to mine.

"I love you too" I whispered against his lips and kissed him deeply.

He looped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him as he lay back in the grass. He kissed me with a deep hunger and passion that I loved so much about him. I kept one arm around his neck, and the other I ran my fingers down his chest, resting my hand over his heart. He put his hands on both side of my waist, moving his hands slowly up my body sending a shiver up my spine.

He smiled against my lips, as he moved his hands back down my body and put his hands in the back pockets of my jeans and pulled my against his body more. I giggled a stupid school girl laugh, as I breathed in his sent. Then with a burst of courage I pulled back from Alex slightly and lifted my shirt up and over my head too and tossed it to the side.

I smiled sheepishly at Alex, and felt my face blush as he looked up at me with a fire in his eyes. I laid there on top of him in jeans and a bra, him under me in only jeans. He moved his hands from the pockets of my jeans and ran his fingers very slowly over my back, sending more shivers up my spine. We laid there teasing each other, skimming our lips to each other, me biting his bottom lip now and then.

We laid there for a while longer kissing, giggling, and touching each other's skin. He held onto my hips and turned my body over his, so I was lying in the grass under him. I wrapped one leg around him, and dug my nails into his back as he kissed and sucked at my neck. My breathing began to get heavy as his kisses traveled lower on my body. Kissing my chest, and trailing peck kisses down my stomach and stopping at my navel, then moving back up until he found my lips again.

As I kissed his lips I thought I heard footsteps in the distance and growing louder. I pulled back from Alex and looked to the left; slowly I could see the tip of Liz's head come into view headed our way. I laughed and looked back at Alex.

"We've got company." I said and nodded my head towards the direction Liz was coming from.

He looked over towards her and smiled. "Do you want to put your shirt back on?" He asked.

I laughed and almost said, _No way! _But then I smiled and nodded. He reached over grabbed my shirt, handed it to me. I pulled it on just in time for Liz to be only a few yards away from us.

"Hey Willow, I brought you some super. You didn't eat with us, at lunch or dinner and I figured you'd be hungry by now." She said, as she handed me a bowl of chili.

I blinked and raised an eyebrow a bit taken aback at the thoughtful gesture. "Oh, thank you Liz. That's very thoughtful." I said as I took a bite of the food.

She cleared her throat and awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other. "Um, Alex do you mind if I borrow Willow for a few minutes? I promise to give her back. "She said to Alex.

"Not at all Liz" he said to her. He looked back over at me, kissed my forehead. "Eat. She's right you haven't eaten and I don't want you passing out from hunger." He said and wagged a finger at me.

I pointed to my mouth full of food and made an "Mmhmm" noise at him.

He got up, grabbed his shirt and headed back to our camp site. I watched him walk away until he was out of view. I looked back at the bowl of chili, then up at Liz and crooked and eyebrow at her.

"I'm not going to poison you Willow. I really do want to talk, I brought food as a peace-offering." She said as she sat down Indian style next to me.

I looked back at the bowl of chili and began to realize that I actually was very hungry. I took another bite of food and chewed slowly. I swallowed my food and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked over at Liz.

"So. What do you want to talk to me about?" I asked breaking the silence that had built up between us in just a few short minutes.

She looked over at me with an expression on her face that I've never seen her give me before. It wasn't the rude, or the scared look she gave me any other time I'd enter a room. The look she gave me now, was soft and happy, with a small smile on her lips that lit up her entire face.

"I want to apologize Willow. How I acted and treated you back at the house was wrong, stupid, petty, childish, and uncalled for. You didn't do anything wrong to me once, and I treated you like shit. I won't blame you if you don't forgive me. I just wanted you know how sorry I am Willow, and I want to be friends." She said.

I looked at her, smiled and thought of Sam. I held the bowl of chili in one hand and lifted the other to Liz. "How about we start over? Hi I'm Willow; it's nice to meet you." I said with a smile.

Her smile grew and stretched across her face as she grabbed my hand and said "Awesome. Hi Willow, I'm Liz. It's nice to meet you too." We playful shook hands and I went back to eating my super.

"Soo." She said with a teasing voice. "What were you and Alex down here doing before I interrupted?"

I shifted awkwardly in the grass not looking at her. "Um, just talking." I said in a high voice that I couldn't control.

She laughed "Oh really? I didn't know talking involved no shirts." She laughed again. "It's ok, I'm just teasing." She said and playfully punched me in the shoulder.

I laughed with her. We sat there together in comfortable silence while I finished eating. "That chili was good. A little spicy, but good." I said as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand again.

"I know right, its Sam's favorite." She said. "I'm glad Alex is going to let us rest up for a few more days here before we get back on the road. I'm going to hate being cramped in the cab of that truck with so many people."

"I know what you mean. I'm glad too. I'm still so exhausted from flying Alex and I off of that building." I said. I set my bowl down next to my legs and shifted on the ground so I was looking at her. "Hey you know what. I have an idea, why don't we find another car to drive back in."

"Hey that's a good idea. But wait, how are we going to get another car?" She asked

A big smile crept across my face "Haven't you heard? I know a lot about cars. I also know how to hot wire." I said. I grabbed my empty bowl and stood up. "Come on let's go tell the boys our brilliant idea." I held out my hand to her to help her up.

She grabbed my hand and I hefted her up to her feet. She smiled looped her arm around mine. I closed my arm around hers and we walked back to the camp site talking about what kind of car we should pick out if we find one that hasn't been completely damaged.


	4. Chapter 4

**She grabbed my hand and I hefted her up to her feet. She smiled looped her arm around mine. I closed my arm around hers and we walked back to the camp site talking about what kind of car we should pick out if we find one that hasn't been completely damaged.**

It takes Liz and I about 10 minutes to finally get back to camp when it should have only taken about 4. We kept stopping to look at the birds flying over head, or pick some pretty flowers. When we finally arrive back at the camp site, the boys are laughing and telling stories about their childhoods, and it make me smile seeing them all happy. Still locked arm in arm Liz and I step in front of the boys and smile our best Cheshire-cat smiles.

"Hey boys!" I said winking at Alex.

"Willow here has a great idea." Liz said

I smiled at Alex, but Seb speaks up first. "Let's hear it then!" he said.

"Well, as much as Liz and I love all of you. We were thinking… maybe we could find another car to drive to Nevada in also. I mean the truck is nice and all but it's also cramped with five people in the small cab." I said and looked over at Alex. "We can still take the truck, but maybe we should also find another car. Sam can stretch his leg out properly until he's fully better in one or the other, and it'll spread us all out a bit. What do you think?" I said to Alex.

Alex put his hand to his chin and rubbed it as if he were in deep thought. He looked up at Liz and I and smiled. He got up from his spot on the ground next to Sam; he came and put an arm around my shoulders.

"I think it's a great idea. What about you two?" he asked to Sam and Seb.

Seb smiled up at us and raised his cup in the air. "I agree." He looked over at Sam. "What about you?" he asked.

"Hell yea sounds like a good idea." He said loudly in his Texas accent. "But wait how are we going to get another car? Nobody down in the city is just going to hand us the keys to their car."

My smile widened as Alex pulled me into his arms. "Willow here knows how to hot wire cars. She was born to be a thief." He said and kissed the top of my head.

I laughed "Alex we've been over this before. I was a troubled youth. Ok so, now that that's settled" I looked up at Alex "tomorrow Liz and I will go find a car and drive it back up here, while you guys go into the city and find some more snacks for the road?" I said to him.

He smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me."

The rest of the group nodded and all said "Me too" practically at the same time.

I smiled and squeezed Alex's hand; he kissed the top of my head and squeezed mine back. Alex was just about to say something to me when Seb came up to me he said. "Willow can I talk to you for a moment? Please?"

"Sure Seb." I said to him. I turned around and gave Alex a hug and told him I'd be back in a few. He said ok and Seb and I started to walk down to the clearing.

"So. What's up Seb?" I asked.

"Are you planning on telling Alex anytime soon that you don't want to go to Nevada?" he said leaning up against a tree with his hands in his pockets.

"Excuse me?" I said my eyes widening and jaw falling open.

He gave me a look that said he wasn't playing any games. "Willow, did you forget that I'm also psychic? I know you've been thinking that you don't want to go to Nevada. You shouldn't keep that from Alex."

"Seb, first of all stay the hell out of my head. I don't need you poking around in my mind ok? Second I only thought that once, I want to go to Nevada I-"I said but was cut off by Seb

"No Willow, you've been thinking it for the past two days. You can't hide things from me or the rest of the team. You have to tell him. If you don't I will."

"Don't Seb. Don't say anything to Alex please." I sighed and scraped my hand down my face. "Ok fine. I'll tell him. Just please let me do it on my own. Ok?"

"Ok fine but if you don't tell him before the sun comes up in the morning, I will tell him." He said.

"Ok that's fair."

He pushed off of the tree and was making his way back to the camp site when I grabbed his arm and turned him back around to look at me.

"Seb I meant what I said. Stay the hell out of my head." I said in a low voice. I gave him a sharp look and let go of his arm and walked back to the camp before he could say anything back.

I can't believe he'd threaten to tell Alex that I don't really want to go to Nevada. What is he trying to do start a fight between Alex and I? I walked back to camp with my head down looking at my feet the entire way. I looked around for Alex, but when I couldn't find him Liz told me he went to go lay down. I walked over to our tent quietly and stood in front of it for a moment to see if I could hear his heavy breathing from sleep. Instead I heard him messing with something and knew he was awake.

I took a deep breath and unzipped the door to the tent and walked in zipping it back closed behind me. I sat down and watched as Alex cut strips out of one of his shirts. I smiled at him as he worked.

"More wraps for Sam's ankle?" I asked

He nodded as he finished cutting out the last strip and set the knife and pieces of wraps off to the side. "Yea, I'm tired of hearing him complain about his ankle. What did you and Seb talk about?" he said as he pulled his own shirt up and over his head.

My jaw clenched as I thought back to Seb blackmailing me into the conversation I was about to have with him. "Alex, I need to talk to you about something. I should have said it to you earlier when you asked me what was wrong, but I just didn't know how you would take it."

"Willow. Tell. Me. What's. Wrong." He said in a low voice.

As I looked at his face, I could see his jaw clench. I let out a heavy breath through my mouth. I cleared my throat. "Can we go for a walk? I don't want anyone poking their nose in our conversation if that's ok with you." I said.

He sat there quiet for a moment then he nodded his head, and started to crawl towards the door to the tent. I sat there still as he crawled toward me, when he sat right in front of me I looked up at his eyes and sighed.

"Please don't be angry with me Alex." I whispered at him.

"Willow I'm not angry, I just wish you would stop keeping things from me." Alex whispered back.

"I will. That's why I want to walk and talk. Ok?" I said.

"Ok." He said and kissed my forehead.

We left the tent, told the others we were going for a walk and headed for the clearing hand in hand. We walked for a few minutes in silence just enjoying the night. Finally as the ruins of the city came into view Alex squeezed my hand and pulled me off the trail and into the trees. We climbed up into the trees following small deer trails. When I lost my footing a couple of times Alex would laugh and pull me close to him, straightening me upright. After a few minutes we came to another small clearing where a tree had fallen over resting against a boulder and made a perfect place to sit and look up at the stars.

Alex sat down on the fallen tree while I stood and contemplated how I was going to start this conversation.

"Start talking Willow." Said Alex as he crossed his arms over his bare chest and leaned against the boulder.

I sighed and turned away from him. I looked down at the ground and closed my eyes tightly balling my hands into fists.

"Alex please don't be mad at me." I said. I let in and out a deep breath, un-balled my hands and turned back to Alex. It wasn't until I looked at him that I realized I was crying. I wiped my eyes with my hands and said in a small voice slowly. "I don't want to go to Nevada… I don't think I want to fight angels anymore…" I sighed. "Alex I need to go find my mom and aunt and I need to see Nina."

I stood in front of him quiet just staring at him with tears falling from my eyes. My throat began to tighten and it became hard for me to breathe. I covered my face with my hands as great sobs left me. I started to fall to my knees, but before I could hit the ground strong arms started to close around me and hands were rubbing my back.

"Willow, it's ok. You don't need to cry I understand completely." Alex whispered in my ear, still rubbing my back. He held me just like that rocking me back and forth, rubbing my back, and kissing my hair for I don't know how long.

When I finally stopped crying I wiped the tears from my face and from Alex's chest. He laughed and brushed the hair that was sticking to my face behind my ear. He smiled down at me and kissed my lips.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked.

I nodded and wiped as more tears escaped my eyes.

"Taking you back to New York is why I agreed to your idea of finding another car. I was going to suggest the idea myself at dinner, but you didn't show up and I didn't want to leave you out." He said with a smile.

I sat in his arms looking him in the eyes as I took in what he just told me. A smile started to form on my lips as my mind caught up to me. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, burying my face in his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me just as tight.

I pulled back from the hug enough to look him in the eyes. "Are you serious?" I asked.

"Yes." He said. "It's been on my mind ever since we saw that news feed about someone burning your house down. I love you, and I want you to be happy, and I want to make sure your family is safe. I know leaving your mom a few months ago killed you and I'm sorry. So tomorrow you and Liz will go find a car that looks good for traveling."

He smiled at me and my heart began to ache at how much I knew I was in love with him. The fact that he thought about taking me to New York before I even brought it up was just another reason that I knew Alex was the one for me.

"I love you Alex. I love you so much. Thank you, you have no idea how much it means to me." I said as I looked into his eyes and ran my hand down his chest.

He smiled and took my hand in his. He laced his fingers in mine and kissed each one of my knuckles. "There's just one thing I need to tell you." He said and looked up at me. "We're going to have to go with the group to Nevada fist. I need to make sure they get situated and everything. It'll only take a day, and then you and I will head for New York. Is that ok with you?"

I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Of course it's ok. Thank you for this Alex. I know it's not enough, and I'm going to repay you somehow I promise."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close to him. "No Willow, I'm doing this because I want to do it for you." He kissed my forehead, and nuzzled his nose in my hair. "I love you so much." He whispered in my hair.

"I love you too." I whispered back.

By the time Alex and I got back to our camp site everyone was sleeping. Alex checked the clock in the truck and found that it was well past one in the morning. Sam and Seb were sprawled out in the bed of the truck. Liz with her small snoring wrapped in a sleeping bag by the fire. I smiled at all of their sleeping faces and told Alex I was going to clean up just a little bit before I went to sleep.

"Do you want any help?" He asked.

"No, I'm just going to throw the can in a bag so they don't attract bugs and wild animals, then I'll be in." I said as I started to pick up empty cans of chili and Coke.

Alex kissed my forehead, told me he would wait until I got in to sleep and went to the tent. I finished picking up empty can and putting them in bag that Sam and Seb had brought them in from earlier in the day when they went to get food from the city. Once I was finally finished I sat down on a log and looked up at the bright stars and full moon.

_**I'm going to find you mom, don't worry. I'm so sorry I left you and Aunt Jo behind the way I did. I should have asked Nina to look after you for a while until I got back. But I'm going to find you both, and Alex is going to help me. I love you both so much and I hope nothing terrible has happened to you.**_I thought to myself.

I sat there for another few minutes letting the cool night air wrap around me. Finally I got up and went to the tent. I opened the zipper door slowly just in case Alex had fallen asleep. I crawled in and closed the door behind me, when I turned back around I found Alex sitting up with his pants and shirt stripped off sitting on top of the sleeping bag. My face blushed a bright red as I looked him over. He smiled at me and my heart melted.

I crawled over to him and he pulled me into his lap. "I thought you'd fallen asleep." I said as I kissed his cheek.

"I told you I was going to wait up for you." He said his hot breath tickling my neck.

"I'm glad you did." I said as I sat facing him in his lap, wrapping my legs around his waist.

He kissed my lips and put his hands on my hips, holding me firmly against him. The kiss deepened as I laid my body against his chest, and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. He ran his hands up and down my outer legs sending little shiver spikes up my back. I ran my finger tips softly along his shoulders and down his arms, feeling him body react with shivers as well.

After a while Alex laid back on the sleeping bag, as he kissed my neck his hands moved to my shirt and brought it up and over my head his hands finding their way back to my lower back.

I giggled against his lips and whispered. "Let's stop talking for a while. Ok?"


	5. Chapter 5 - The Premonition

**I giggled against his lips and whispered. "Let's stop talking for a while. Ok?"**

That night I had a premonition.

The first thing I saw was my reflection. I saw my green eyes, pale skin, and short hair… only I wasn't redheaded anymore. I was blond again. I remember feeling an incredible joy to see some part of the old me again. The next part I saw of the premonition was a girl. It wasn't Liz. This girl was about Alex's height, and she had curly shoulder length brown hair, with some bright purple streaks in it. She was wearing heeled boots, tight black skinny jeans, and a gray shirt under a black leather jacket. She was running along next to me. "Willow run faster, you have to run faster!" she yelled urgently at me. Who were we running from?

The next part of my premonition is the part that truly scared me. This girl and I came to a skittering stop at the edge of a cliff. I looked down and saw that we were hundreds of feet up from the bottom. When I turned around I found who we were running from. He was about a foot taller than me with a lean toned body and smooth skin; he was wearing jeans and a red shirt. His shaggy chocolate brown hair that was being blown from the wind was covering his forehead and just starting to reach the tops of his eyebrows. He was holding a gun. And it was pointed right at me. I've seen him shoot before, and I knew that once he pulled that trigger, he wouldn't miss his mark. He was standing only feet from us, with a look of pure hate and anger. He flicked the safety off on his gun with his thumb. I heard the _click, _and swallowed a big gulp of air ready for his next move. He took a step closer to me and steadied his arm still pointing the gun at my face. He moved his finger to the trigger and took another step in our direction.

It was Alex holding that gun getting ready to shoot me and that girl.

I woke up with a jolt out of the dream screaming… loudly. When I opened my eyes all I saw was darkness at first. My hearing was clouded and it sounded like someone was talking into a cup. Suddenly hands were on my arms, holding me tightly, my hearing and vision started to come into focus and I saw Alex over me trying to comfort me.

"Willow! Willow, you're ok. It was just a dream." He said loudly.

I slowly began to realize I was still screaming, kicking, and swatting at him.

"Get away from me!" I screamed.

Alex let go of my arms and sat back on the sleeping bag. I stopped screaming and kicking and trying to hit him and slowly finally sat up. I held the sleeping bag up to my throat to cover myself. Breathing heavily I looked over at Alex to see him watching me with a scared look on his face.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly.

"No" I answered. I rolled to the side and gathered up my clothes. I threw them on quickly with trembling hands and as I began to reach for my shoes Alex caught my hand and held in gently.

"Willow, what did you dream about that's got you so scared?" He asked. He started to reach for my face but I flinched and pulled away from him quickly. His hand stopped mid air and he put it back to his side.

I gently pull my hand out of his and headed for the door of the tent. "I need some air." I said as I zip the tent closed behind me.

I looked around to find everyone standing around starring at our tent frozen in place. Obviously wondering what all of the screaming was about. Still breathing hard I practically run over to Seb and grabbed him by the arm.

"I need to talk to you, _now_." I said as I hurriedly pull him away from the camp site and down into the clearing.

Once I had Seb in the clearing I let go of his arm and start pacing in front of him.

"Willow, what's wrong? And what was all of that screaming about earlier?" he asked.

"Seb… I had a premonition last night." I say slowly. "It was me, and some girl running on a cliff, and we came to the edge of it… and…" I can't finish as my voice catches in my throat and tears began to sting my eyes.

"What else happened? You wouldn't be this scared if you were only running on a cliff."

"Alex was there too. And he had a gun… pointed at me. And I think he was about to shoot me." I said.

Seb's eyes grow enormously big and his mouth hangs open. "Willow are you sure it was Alex?"

"Yes Seb, I know Alex anywhere. I'm scared and I don't know what to do." I said to him in a shaky voice.

"You need to talk to Alex about this right away." He said in a low voice.

I nod my head. "Ok. I'll go find him now then."

We head back to the camp site Seb walking about 15 steps ahead of me. As we get closer to the camp my entire body starts to grow cold. I rub my hands over my arms fiercely trying to warm myself up. As I approach the camp my head snaps to the right as I catch sight of Alex coming out of the tent. He stands in front of the tent looking at me. I know he's questioning if I'm ok, and if he should come over to me and speak.

I walk over to Alex, my arms still wrapped around my body and look up into his eyes.

"I need to talk to you." I whisper to him.

"Ok." He says and puts a hand on my back leading me down to the clearing, and through the trees and deer trails to our new found hiding spot. He sits me down on the fallen log and sits next to me. "Willow what's going on?" he asks softly.

"Alex last night I had a premonition." I say looking down at my hands in my lap. "First I saw myself in a mirror, and then I saw a girl with brown hair running beside me. Then she and I were on the edge of a cliff… and there was a gun being pointed at my face." I looked over at Alex and saw that he had gone statue still. I took a deep breath. "Alex, the person holding the gun…" I said slowly. I didn't want to finish my sentence. "was you." I whispered.

Alex's eyes grew saucer wide. He jumped off of the log and stood in front of me looking at me as if I had a second head growing out of my neck.

"Willow. No, that's crazy. I would never do something like that. How do you know it was a premonition and not just some dream?" he said in a hurried tone.

"Because Alex, it felt real, and urgent. Like when I had the premonition about coming to Mexico City, and the council." I paused for a moment as I sit and remember the dream looking down at my hands. "You had a look of pure anger and hatred for me. I've never seen you look like that. Not even those first few day we ever met."

I looked up at him, to see him looking at the ground with a confused look on his face.

"Alex I don't know what to do. I don't to be, but I'm really scared." I whispered.

Alex's head shot up when I said that. He practically ran from only a couple feet away from me, got down on his knees in front of me and cradled my head in both of his hands.

"No Willow, don't be scared. I'm right here for you. I'm not going to let _anything_ bad happen to you. I don't know what you saw, but it was wrong. I would never _ever_ do anything like that to you _ever_, and you know it. Do you understand me? I love you and I will always protect you." He said fiercely looking into my eyes.

I nodded at him trying to believe his words. But I truly was scared deep down inside.

He pulled my face to his and kissed my lips "I'm not going to let anyone, anything, or any _angel_ come between us again, got it?" he said against my lips.

"Yes." I whispered back at him.


	6. Chapter 6

"**Yes." I whispered back at him.**

After I told Alex about my premonition we both agreed that when the time comes we would fight against anything that was trying to come between us. We walked back to the camp hand in hand after a while, discussing the plan for Liz and I to go down to the city and find another car to bring back. Alex says it needs to look as if it's made for traveling. I laugh and reminded him that I know bit more about cars than he does, and that I'll find one no problem. He smiles at me and says ok. When we finally arrive at camp the gang is sitting around dressed, fed, and ready to go down to the city.

"Ok before we go down, there are some things I need to talk to you all about." Alex said to the others still holding my hand. He turned around and yelled for Sam who was using the 'facilities' in the woods. "Sam hurry the hell up and get over here!"

"Shut up, I'm coming." Said Sam, as he came out of the woods buttoning up his pants, and putting his hands in his pockets. "Yes master?" he said to Alex with a grin.

Liz and I giggled, and I squeezed Alex's hand slightly. Alex laughed too and cleared his throat.

"Ok look, we got to talk about what we're about to do before we go down there and something goes wrong alright?" He said, and everyone nodded their heads including me. "Ok. The plan is, we're all going to ride down there in the truck, and then Liz and Willow are going to go and find a car that hasn't been totally damaged. Willow will hot wire it, and then the two of them will drive it back up here while the rest of us make a run in the city again and find food and water… and if you see any money laying around you should probably pick it up too." Everyone nodded at him again. I looked up at him and he glanced at me. Our eyes met for a moment, Alex cleared his throat and looked back at the others. "There's one more thing I need to tell you guys. Willow and I will only be going with you all to Nevada to get you situated and get things up and running. She and I have something we need to do, and we're going to be leaving you after about two days. Sam will be in charge, and if we can find anyone to recruit on the way there that'll be good too."

The others stood there with confused looks on their faces. Liz spoke up first.

"Where are you guys going?" she asked.

"I need to take Willow to New York to find her mom and aunt. We're not going to be gone long I swear. We're going to find her mom and aunt, and make sure they have some place safe to live, maybe even bring them back to Nevada with us." Alex said.

When Alex said that maybe we could bring my mom and Aunt Jo back to Nevada with us my head snapped up to him. He looked down at me with a smile and squeezed my hand, and I squeezed his back tightly. Sam shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly, and I saw Alex watching him out of the corner of his eye.

Alex looked over at Sam with apologetic eyes. "I know it's a lot of pressure Sam. But I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think you were capable. We're only going to be gone for a week, two tops." Alex said.

Sam looked at Alex and held his gaze for a minute, then did the same with me. He looked away from me and inhaled a deep breath, letting it out through his mouth nodding his head slowly. "No, I understand. Willow does need to find her family and make sure their ok. I can take care of Liz and Seb no problem." Sam said and smiled at me.

I let go of Alex's hand and walked over to Sam and said. "Thank you Sam. You have no idea how much this means to me." I gave him a hug, and playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Look at you growing up." I said and everyone laughed.

"Ok it's almost noon, let's get going to the city before we start to loose light." Sam said in a big commander voice.

I looked over at Alex and he nodded his head in approval. We all started to head for the truck when I grabbed Liz by the arm and pulled her to a stop so the others wouldn't hear our conversation. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised as I gave her a big Cheshire-cat smile.

"What?" she asked me her voice laced with question.

"If I asked for a favor, would you come through for me?" I said still smiling.

She narrowed her eyes at me and folded her arms over her chest. "What kind of favor?"

I clasped my hands together in a praying pose and tried my very best puppy dog face. "Will you ride with the boys to Nevada and let Alex and I ride alone?"

Her eyes closed heavily, and her shoulders sagged deeply as if she was carrying a very heavy backpack. She let out a big sigh and rubbed her temples. "Ugh! Fine..." She opened her eyes back up and looked at me with daggers. "But you soooooo owe me!" she said and we both laughed and walked to the truck.

"What were you two talking about?" Alex asked as he opened the driver door.

"Oh, you know. Just girl talk." I said with a smile. I could see the kiss he wanted to give me and I playfully brushed past him and went around the truck to the passenger side door.

The drive down to the city took an hour and a half. The streets were still covered in fallen trees, power lines, and some spots in the road even had big rocks, mud, and boulders covering it from rock slides that had happened. When we finally arrived in the city Alex pulled to the sided of the road and parked at an intersection. We all sat in the truck looking out the front windshield silently. The city was disserted. There was no one, not a soul in sight. I saw Alex out of the corner of my eye take a gun out of the bin of his door without taking his eyes off the city. He checked the cartridge for ammo. It must have had enough because he slammed it back shut quickly. I jumped when it connected, not meaning to. I hadn't been thinking about my premonition until I saw the silver glint of that gun just now. I turned my head towards him and watched as he put the gun in the waistband of his jeans. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as I caught site of Alex's toned stomach, and my nerves suddenly vanished. Alex looked over at me quickly and saw me starring at his stomach, he winked at me and opened his door and started to slide out. We all jumped out of the truck and met at the front.

"Ok, Willow, Liz you guys have your cell phones?" Alex asked. We both nodded. "Ok I've got mine and Sam has his." He looked over at Seb. "Let's see if we can find you a new one while we're out here ok." Seb nodded his head. "Alright, you two go find a car, once you do you can either drive it back up to the camp site, or drive here and wait for us."

I looked over at Liz "What would you rather do?" I asked her.

"I think we should drive it back here and wait for the guys. That way if there's any kind of problem we've got back up." She said.

I nodded. "I agree." I turned back to Alex. "We'll bring it back here then."

"Ok that sounds good. Once you find the right car and bring it back here call me, and we'll wrap up what we're doing and come back. I don't want anyone out here alone long enough for something to go down." Alex said. He looked over at Sam. "Sounds good to you?" he asked him.

"Hell yea. Let's get going." He said in his loud accent.

The boys all turned in unison south and started to head for the end of the block. Liz and I watched on the sidewalk as they turned the corner and out of sight.

"What kind of car do you think we should look for?" Liz asked me.

"Actually I was thinking maybe a Jeep. I saw one on the way down here about a mile back, that didn't looked damaged at all. If it's low on gas that'll be ok, I know how to siphon and we can just get enough to put in it to make it back to the camp site."

"Ok that sounds good to me. Ha ha, I almost feel bad that our part is so easy and the boys are out there working hard." Liz said with a laugh as we started to head back the way we came.

I laughed back and thought about the boys and wondered how much they've gotten done by now. They've probably found an empty convenient store and are helping themselves to whatever they want.

"I've been scanning for angels. I'm not picking up on any yet." Liz announced.

"Ok. Hopefully we won't run into any before we get to the car."

"Yea. Hey Willow, can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Yea sure Liz." I said.

"It's kind of personal. So if you don't want to answer I'll understand."

I chuckled. "No, its ok Liz. What's up?"

She cleared her throat and glanced over at me. "What is it like being in love? You and Alex are so happy together. What is that like?" she asked me.

I looked over at Liz and smiled. "You really want to know?" I asked. She nodded her head at me. "To be honest... And I know this is going to sound really corny. But part of it is like waking up and remembering that its Christmas morning. There's so much joy and happiness in your heart. The person your with is the reason you don't want to go to bed at night cause you don't want to stop breathing in their sent, looking into their eyes, seeing their smile, feeling their touch, or hearing their voice. But when you do finally fall asleep their in your dreams every night, whether or not it's only for a second or the entire dream. Then when you do wake up their the first person on your mind." I glanced over at Liz to see her staring at me wide eyed and clinging to every word I said. I smiled and continued on. "That person is your other half, and you're theirs. They help and support you through everything, and you do the same."

"Wow Willow, that's so beautiful." She sighed. "I can't wait to be in love." She said in a dreamy voice.

"You've never been in love before?" I asked.

"Nope. Never. I've had a couple of boyfriends before I became an angel spotter back in Florida where I lived with my family. But I've never been in a relationship long enough to be in love." She said. She went quiet for a moment. I felt her pull up her consciousness through her chakra points and scan the area. She looked back over her shoulder from the way we had just came. "We must be farther from the boys then I thought. I can't feel their energys anymore."

"You think maybe I should call them and check on them?" I asked.

Liz shook her head slowly. "No, not yet, let's get to the Jeep first."

"Ok." I said.

We walked for another couple of minutes when I started to get a feeling of being watched, and then it turned into a feeling of being followed. I stopped dead in my tracks and cautiously glanced over my shoulder. I didn't see anything living around, not a person, animal, and hardly saw any plant life either.

"Something's not right." I said slowly still frozen in place.

Liz frozen a few steps ahead of me nodded her head in agreement. "Yea, I know its way to quiet out here. I don't even see any stray animals running around… maybe we should call the boys and see if their ok."

I pulled out my cell phone and scrolled in the contacts for Alex's number. I hit the send button and put the phone to my ear. I listened to the ringing's. _once, twice. _

Alex picked up before the third ring came on. "Hey." He answered. I could already hear the smile on his lips. "You miss me already?" he chuckled.

"We wanted to make sure you guys were ok. I'm getting some weird feelings right now." I said to him slowly.

"What kind of feelings?" he asked, his voice gone all serious now.

I brought the receiver closer to my mouth and whispered into it. "Like Liz and I are being followed and watched. We've both been scanning but neither one of us is picking up anything, not a single soul in sight, not even an animal."

Alex was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again he said in a low voice "I just scanned again. I'm not picking up anything either. Have you made it to the car yet?"

"No, but we're not far from it. It's in sight though." I said.

"Ok, get to the new car quickly, but carefully. We're almost done here anyway, we'll be at the truck waiting for you with back up if you need it."

"Alright." I said. "Alex."

"Yea?"

"Please be careful." I said in a worried tone.

I heard him laugh "Did you forget who you're talking to? Trained assassin here." When I don't reply his tone gets serious again. "Willow, I promise I'll be careful. I'll see you at the truck ok?" he said.

I let out a breath. "Ok. I love you."

"I love you too." And I heard the phone click off.

I look over at Liz. "Come on, the Jeep is right behind that building." I said and pointed in the direction of a dilapidated building. Liz nodded and followed a step behind me. We walked to the end of the block, and turned the corner. "There it is. And I don't see any visible damage, lets hope it starts up." I said to Liz.

She nodded again and followed behind. I knew she was scanning and keeping an eye on our surroundings, that's why she was being so quiet. We round the corner and I show her the black Jeep Commander and I'm able to get the door open. The keys aren't in it so I have to hot wire. As I'm stripping off the instillation from the few wires I need, Liz is by the front of the Jeep keeping an eye out. Before I connect the wires I pop open the hood and go to the front to check the engine.

"Does everything look alright?" Liz asked after I'd been under the hood for a few minutes.

"Yea actually." I said, my voice coming out muffled. "It's like someone just left it here. Probably didn't want to be driving it through the earthquake. Good news for us, sad for them." I checked all of the oils, water, and filters to make sure everything was indeed fine. And just like I hoped, everything was fine with the Jeep. "Ok, let's get this thing started and head back to the boys." I said as I shut the hood down and walked back over to the driver's door.

Liz was leaning against the side of the Jeep waiting for me to get it started when she shot straight up at attention. "Willow! I feel an energy! Its an animal." She said quickly.

"Where?" I asked peering over the steering wheel at her.

She was quiet for a few moments, then practically jumped through the window to get into the Jeep. "Willow get all the way in the Jeep! It's a dog! A rabid dog!" she yelled as she pulled on my arm to lift me inside the Jeep.

Still on the ground I looked over my shoulder to see a black and brown German Shepherd standing about a block and a half away. I could see from where I was that there was something off about this dog. It was shaking with visible great tremors, there was something that looked white and dripping coming from its mouth as it growled at me. I stood frozen in place half outside the Jeep, the other half of me trying to get the wires connected.

"Willow, get. In. The. Jeep." Liz fiercely whispered at me.

"I'm not finished with the wires yet" I whispered back to her.

"Just get in and finish after the dog leaves." She said as she tugged on the sleeve of my shirt.

I looked away from the dog to the wires, to up at Liz. "Liz, call Alex." I mouthed at her as I twisted my fingers around the wires.

Liz pulled out her cell phone slowly and scrolled in her contacts until she found Alex's number. She put the phone to her ear and when Alex answered the phone she whispered to him. "Alex help. We're a mile back towards camp from the truck and there's a rabid dog stalking us." Her eyes started to get red from the tears that were rimming them. "Ok" she whispered back to Alex and hung up the phone, sliding it back into her pocket.

"Ok, now all I need to do is connect these two wires and we're good to go." I whispered to Liz.

"Ok, Alex said that they've been at the truck waiting and they're going to head this way. He wants us to stay in the truck with the windows up and wait for him here." She whispered back.

I nodded my head, then looked back over my shoulder towards the dog. It was starting to take steps towards us. My breathing started to quicken as I grabbed the steering wheel with one had, and Liz's hand with the other. She pulled me into the Jeep as fast as she could. Once I was in the seat I slammed the door shut behind me as fast as I could and locked the doors. I looked back towards the dog to see is running at full speed towards the Jeep. It was still snarling, barking, and growling as it made its way to us. Liz and I began to scream and I crawled over the center console into her lap. We clung to each other as the dog got closer and closer to us. Liz buried her face into my shoulder screaming at the top of her lungs. I watched as the dog grew bigger and bigger in sight. I shut my eyes tight and turned my face away just as the dog leapt off of the ground towards the window.

The next thing I knew what happened, the growls from the dog stopped. There were two low, and thick _thump, thump_ in the air outside the Jeep, and the dog was gone. Liz and I stopped screaming, we were still clinging to each other and I was still in her lap. Suddenly Sam appeared at the driver side window knocking on the glass.

"Liz, Willow, you two alright?" Sam asked gasping for breath on the other side of the door.

"_SAM!"_ Liz and I both yelled at the same time.

We climbed over the center console one at a time and out the door. Before I could even make it out of the door Alex pulled me into his arms squeezing me tightly in a hug and kissing my hair. I hugged him back my body still shaking. I looked to the left and saw Liz clinging to Sam's neck tears rolling down her face, him hugging her close trying to calm her down. I looked to the right and saw Seb leaning over the dead dog inspecting it curiously.

"Are you ok?" Alex asked me against my hair. I nodded my head still trying to catch my breath from screaming, unable to speak any words. "Thank God." He said as he rubbed my back trying to stop my shaking.

Once my body had stopped shaking, and I was able to catch my breath, I looked up at Alex almost embarrassed. I smiled and pulled away from him but still holding his hand. He squeezed my hand and I squeezed his back.

"I still need to see if I can get the Jeep to turn over." I told Alex. I let go of his hand and went to sit behind the wheel. I finished twisting the wires together, and pressed down on the gas pedal. The Jeep came to life. I looked at all the of the gages and saw that only the gas was low. I looked over at the group "It only needs some gas, no problem." I said.

Seb looked over at us with a confused look on his face "I do not understand how this animal came to have rabies. There are no bite marks on it. Could it have eaten something?" he asked slowly.

"It could have. When I was little my neighbor's dog ate something nasty and got really sick. I'm sure the same thing can happen with rabies." Liz said. She stood next to Sam look at the dead dog with great fear.

I slid out of the Jeep and walked over and held onto Alex's arm. He looked down at me and gave me a small smile. "Can you help me siphon some gas into the Jeep?" I asked him.

He nodded his head. "Yea sure." He looked over at Sam, "Can you take Liz and Seb up to camp and you guys start cleaning up? We're going to leave for Nevada tomorrow morning bright and early."

"Yea no problem." Sam said, he nodded back towards the direction of the truck to Liz and Seb. "Come on guys. I'll race you back to the truck. Loser has to sit in the back." Seb and Liz glanced at each other; both smiled and took off running in the direction of the truck.

"Why challenge them to a race when you're still hurt?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest and leaning my weight on one leg.

"Because if they get there first, I wont have to drive." He said with a smirk and he turned around and headed away from us.

I rolled my eyes. "Lazy!" I called out to him. He waved a hand back to me, and Alex and I laughed. I turned to Alex with a small smile on my face. "Do you know how to siphon?" I asked him. He shook his head no and my smile grew across my entire face. "My love" I said. "I have some new things to teach you." I grabbed his hand and pulled him along.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Girl

**I rolled my eyes. "Lazy!" I called out to him. He waved a hand back to me, and Alex and I laughed. I turned to Alex with a small smile on my face. "Do you know how to siphon?" I asked him. He shook his head no and my smile grew across my entire face. "My love" I said. "I have some new things to teach you." I grabbed his hand and pulled him along.**

After taking our time Alex and I siphoned some gas into the Jeep and we made it back to the camp to the others, the first thing I noticed was everyone sleeping. I laughed and looked over at Alex to see him smiling and shaking his head. Looking at them sleeping a sudden wave of tiredness washed over me. I stretch and yawn dramatically. But then suddenly a feeling flutters inside me. I look over at Alex and my eyebrows nit together. His smile fades and his eyebrows start to come together.

"Willow what's wrong?" He asks confusion in his voice.

I looked away from Alex down to the ground. I shut my eyes tightly and let the feeling wash over me. I saw in my mind's eye part of my premonition come into view. No. That's not right. What I was seeing wasn't in my premonition at all. This was a vision I was having. But the girl from my premonition was there. I couldn't see her face, just the back of her head and the clothes she was wearing. I could just barely see a silver glint from the gun that was tucked under the waistband of her jeans that was almost fully covered by her black leather jacket.

Then just as quickly as the vision came, it was gone. My eyes fluttered open to see Alex in front of my with his eyebrows frowned together. I stood silently trying to process what just happened. I've never had a vision on my own before. This was creepy, and why was I seeing this girl? Maybe she has something to do with me?

"I just had a vision." I said to Alex. "I've never had a vision before like that." Alex tucked some of my hair behind my ear, and I sighed feeling his touch.

"What did you see?" he asked me quietly.

"The girl from my premonition. She was just standing there facing away from me." I looked up at Alex in the eyes "I don't know what it means." I whispered.

Alex shook his head at me. "I don't either." He put his arm around my shoulders. "Come on you look tired, everyone has the right idea about getting some sleep before we leave tomorrow." I smiled up at him as he held my shoulders tightly. The next thing I knew he put an arm under my legs and cradled me to his chest and walked us to the tent. Alex and I snuggled in our sleeping bag and almost instantly sleep washed over me.

When I woke up Alex was still sleeping next to me. Around us the light outside is giving off a soft glow. _The sun must be going down_, I thought to myself. I quietly crawled out of the tent and zipped it closed behind me. I stood up and walked over to the truck to check the time. _WHAT?!_ Its nine thirty in the morning? Holy crap. We all slept all night. Wow.

I turned away from the truck, to find only Sam and Seb awake. "Did you guys let Alex and me sleep all night?" I asked them.

"Yea we didn't want to wake you. Plus Liz slept all night too." Seb said to me.

"Ohh, that was very nice of you." I said back. "Are you guys ready to leave?" I asked.

Sam nodded. "Yea, pretty much. Just need to clear up the fire and roll up the sleeping bags."

"Cool. I'm going to go wake up Alex." I said and pointed back to the tent with my thumb. As I started to turn away Sam called out to me.

"Maybe you should just let him sleep. Knowing Alex he'll probably want us to drive nonstop for a while, so we're going to need all the sleep we can get." Sam said.

"Alex said he wanted us to leave first thing this morning though. I'm going to go get him."

"Alright." He said with a sigh.

I arched an eyebrow at Sam and crossed my arms over my chest. "You just don't want to get on the road yet. That's it isn't it?" I asked. He smiled at me and shrugged his shoulders. I rolled my eyes at him. "Lazy." I said as I turned back towards the tent.

I walked back to the tent to find Alex still sleeping. He looks so vulnerable when he sleeps, so at peace. I sat down next to him, and leaned over his face and softly kissed his lips. I traced his eyebrow lightly with my finger smiling down at him. Slowly Alex's eyes started to flutter open. He smiled up at me, and I smiled back. He reached up and gently ran his hand through my hair.

I bent down and kissed his lips again. "Good morning Mr. Kylar." I smiled. "We slept all night long."

He laughed. "What time is it?"

"About nine-thirty. I've only been up for a few minutes. Did you sleep well?"

He smiled "Yes I did. Are you ready to head for Nevada?" he asked, his voice laced with sleep.

"I'm so ready." I laughed "Liz is still sleeping."

"Well time for her to wake the hell up." He said with a laugh. "Are the guys up?"

I nodded. "Yea and Sam is being lazy this morning." Alex rolled his eyes and lightly trailed his fingertips down my cheek. "I'll go get everyone ready, you take your time to wake up and get ready ok."

"Ok."

I bent down and kissed his lips once more. I smiled at him as I headed for the tent door. I found my way back to the boys who were sitting on the logs around the wet fire.

"You guys ready to go? Alex is getting ready then we're all going to get on the road." I paused for a moment and looked around. "Where's Liz?" I asked.

Sam pointed his thumb to the Jeep. "She slept in the back of the Jeep last night. I think she's still asleep." He said with a small chuckle.

I rolled my eyes and headed for the Jeep. I looked through the dark windows to see Liz curled up in the back seat sleeping away. I opened the door and leaned in. I gently shook her shoulder. "Hey Liz, come on its time to get up. We're heading for Nevada today." I said softly to her. She stirred and slowly her eyes began to open. I smiled at her. "Good morning Sleeping Beauty. It's going on ten o'clock, and we're leaving for the US in about 20 minutes."

Liz made a grumpy noise and nodded her head as she sat up. Her hair was all over the place, as she saw me looking at her hair she gave me the evil eye and pointed back towards the camp site. I laughed and held my hands up in surrender. I backed away, turned and headed for the camp.

Alex was awake now and talking to Sam and Seb. I knew the one thing I needed to do before we left. I quietly snuck around the boys and headed down for the clearing that over looked the city. Once I had the city in full view at the bottom of the hill I sat down in the grass and hugged my knees to my chest. To think Alex and I were only here for a couple of months and so much happened. I almost lost him. But I found something, some_one_ I never would have known even existed. To think, I'm not the only other half angel in this world. I let out a sigh and gave my head a sharp shake as if to clear it. Who is this girl? What does she have to do with me? If she does at all. She has to mean something eventually. She said my name.

I must have been in deep thought because suddenly arms were circling around me hugging me close causing me to jump. "It's time to go." Alex said in a low voice in my ear. He kissed my neck and tightened his grip around me. "Are you ready to get back to the states?" he asked me as he pulled me to my feet.

"I don't know." I said slowly.

Alex turned me around and held me at arm's length. He tried to look into my eyes but I wouldn't meet his gaze. "Babe, what's wrong?"

"That girl Alex… it's almost like she's haunting me." I sighed heavily. "I'm ready to meet her and get to the bottom of what she means to me."

Alex smiled at me and rubbed my back. "Don't worry; I'll be right there with you when you do. Come on the others are waiting on us." He put his arm around my shoulders and led me back to the Jeep.

The drive back into the US was easier than when Alex and I made our way in. The roads were clear, not an animal or person in sight again. Alex did the driving so far, with Sam driving the truck behind us. Alex and I had been talking, laughing, and listening to the radio. Both English and Spanish songs would come on, and Alex would always translate the words for me.

"Who is this by?" I asked questioning the lovely Spanish song that Alex was translating for me.

"His name is Prince Royce." Said Alex, as he glanced over at me.

"He has a beautiful voice, and the lyrics to this song are so sweet." I said with a smile. The song was called Corazon Sin Cara. Listening to Prince Royce talk about how he would love this girl no matter what she looked like on the outside, made me think of Alex.

Alex reached over and laced his fingers through mine as I leaned my head back on the head rest of my seat and looked out the window, my eyelids starting to fall heavy. The steady gentle rocking of the Jeep and the soft beautiful music of Spanish singing was starting to lull me off to sleep. Alex squeezed my hand gently, and brought my fingers up to his mouth kissing my knuckles.

"You can take a nap if you'd like. I'll wake you up when we get to the border." He said quietly.

"Ok." I whispered my eyelids were being taken over by gravity as sleep washed over me. The last thing I saw was Alex's smile and the sun climbing higher in the sky as my eyelid closed.

"Hey Willow." I heard Alex calling to me quietly. His fingers were still laced with mine as my eyes slowly started to flutter open. "We're coming up to the border. You're about to be an American citizen again." He said with a smile as he shook my hand trying to wake me up.

"Mmmhhmmm" I grunted as I sat up and tried to smooth down my hair. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked as I glanced out of the front window to a dark night, small specks of stars in the sky.

"All day long." Alex said with a laugh. "I thought you would miss becoming legal again." He smirked.

"Shut up." I said to him in a still groggy voice with a smile. I leant over the center console and kissed his cheek. "How far are we from the border?" I asked as I ran my hand through Alex's hair.

He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed each of my knuckles. "Look out the window we're coming up on it now."

I had to force myself to look away from his gorgeous face and look out the front window. Up ahead from what I could make out in the dark, sat six toll booth stations side by side, with towering chain length fence running on both sides out into the distance.

"Once we cross through that, we'll be back in the US baby." Alex said. "Sam's from Texas so he'll be taking over lead driver from here until we get to New Mexico." Alex pulled over and held the brake as Sam and the others pulled up next to us in the truck.

"My turn to lead." Sam hollered through the window in his loud Southern accent with a smile. "It's basically a straight shot all the way to New Mexico. So just follow me."

Alex gave him a nod and off went the truck in front of us. We sat watching the truck roll slowly through the toll booth check points, beyond the fence, and start to pick up speed on the other side, into the dark dessert night. Alex and I glanced at each other with smiles. Alex slowly took his foot off of the brake still holding my hand, and gaze.

"Ready to do this?" He asked me with a smile.

"Hell yes." I said with an ear to ear smile.

Driving through Texas was nice. We drove all night long, only stopping twice for restroom breaks and to get gas. As we headed more into the US, we started seeing people again every now and then. Some at gas stations, some driving in the opposite direction than us. Surprisingly the drive didn't take long at all; by the time the sun came up we had finally gotten to New Mexico. We all decided that because we all could take shifts sleeping and driving we wouldn't need to stop to make a camp and sleep. I didn't mind one bit, spending alone time with Alex during the drive was great. We talked about everything that had happened in Mexico. About Seb, about Kara, about Razel, about the council, and the terrorist attack and we hashed them all out. We agreed that we were stronger than all of that, and we weren't going to let it come between us.

It was my turn to drive the Jeep, I was behind Liz in the truck and we were nearing Nevada now. I had one hand on the wheel, and the other Alex was holding in his lap as he slept next to me. I ran my thumb over his knuckles and glanced at him. I un-tangled my fingers from his as my cell phone started ringing.

"What's up?" I answered.

"Hey, hey. Get ready we're about to be in Nevada." Liz said back.

"Really? Awesome. How far until we are?" I asked. Then I paused as we past a sign saying '_Welcome to Nevada.'_ "Haha, I guess that answers my question."

"Yep. We're all hungry, what about you two?" Liz said. I could hear Sam and Seb holding a deep conversation about sports in the background.

"Well Alex is still sleeping, but let's find a place we can go in, sit, and use the bathroom. I've got to stretch my legs." I said with a laugh.

"Agreed. We're coming up onto a town; we can stop there and find a place to eat."

"Sounds good to me." I said.

"Cool." She said. As she was hanging up the phone I could hear her yelling at Seb. "Seb! Stop touching the radio! I hate country music." And with that she finally clicked off the phone.

I laughed and put my cell down in the cup holder. I reached over and shook Alex's arm talking to him soothingly. "Hey Alex, we're in Nevada. We're all gunna stop and get something to eat. If you wake up I'll buy you some coffee."

Alex stirred in his seat. "Coffee sounds good." He said running a hand through his hair and blinking at the sunlight shinning down on him.

"Did you sleep ok?" I asked linking my fingers through his.

"Yea. You said we're in Nevada? How long have we been in the state?" he asked scrapping a hand down his face rubbing his eyes.

I smiled at him. He's adorable. "About twenty minutes. We're about to find a place to go in and eat, are you hungry?"

"Willow, I'm a guy. I'm always hungry." He said.

I rolled my eyes glancing at him. "You've got that right." He laughed and leaned over the center console tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and kissed me below my earlobe. I blushed and he squeezed my hand.

Liz led us to a small dinner. The parking lot was packed with cars, and all of the neon signs in the windows were lite up and blinking. I pulled the Jeep up next to the truck and cut the engine Liz and the boys already getting out and heading for the front door of the dinner. Alex started to unbuckle his seat belt, and pull the handle for the door when he paused and looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Willow come on. Aren't you hungry?" he asked as he rubbed my elbow.

I was still strapped into my seat, clutching the steering wheel tightly, but my eyes had gone wide as I starred at the dinner. I was getting a strong feeling about this place, but for some reason I couldn't put my finger on it. Slowly I reached for my seat belt and unbuckled the clasp. I sat silent and watched as the others walked through the front door of the dinner and walk over to a booth next to a window.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked me in a low voice.

"I'm just getting a really strong feeling from this place." I said, my voice coming out in a whisper.

"A good or bad feeling?" He asked his hand inching towards the gun that rested underneath the waistband of his jeans.

"I don't know yet." I said as I open the Jeep door and climbed down. Alex and I walked in and I told him I was going to go wash up before I ate and to order me a club sandwich and a side salad.

After I used the bathroom and was at the sink washing my hands a girl came into the bathroom. I glanced up looking at her through the mirror… and had to do a double take, this time starring at her, my hands covered in soap midair, eyes wide, and mouth hung open. This girl was as tall as Alex, perfect hour glass body with shoulder length brown hair, the color of her hair extensions was blue with gray little flicks. Just like Alex's eyes. Her skin tone was a soft sun kissed gold; she obviously spent a good amount of time in the sun. She has soft Hazel eyes, a small button nose, and lips that had a natural up turn to them; as if she was naturally giving a small smile. Her fingernails were painted a rich coal black. She had two sets of small diamonds in her ears. She wore an off the shoulder long sleeved green and black striped shirt showing black bra straps, black skinny jeans that had safety pins going up the side but wasn't holding together her jeans, just there for decoration. The shoes she was wearing were neon green Converse sneakers with black laces that matched her shirt.

It was the girl from my premonition.

Standing at the sink next to me, she put her big purse down on the shelf just below the mirror. She dug around in her purse and came out with a small tube of pink lip gloss. She uncapped the tube dipped the wand in a few times and brought it to her lips. It left her lips a bright shimmering pink with little silver crystals; the color was great against her skin tone. As she rubbed her lips together she finally glanced over at me making eye contact.

She smiled a big kind smile at me, and I realized that I was still starring. I smiled back, blinking a few times and looking away. I finished rinsing my hands off, drying them with a sandpaper feeling paper towel. When I looked back at her in the mirror she was still looking at me, only now her smile had faded, and she was eyeing me carefully. Then something flashed in her eyes and her smile grew back again.

"Hi. I'm Nat." she said as she held her hand out to me. "Well actually my names Nattallia, but I go by Nat." I wasn't sure what to say just yet so I just shook her hand. "Lip gloss?" She held out her tube of lip gloss to me, and I took it with a slight hesitation. "That color will look great with your skin tone." She said cheerfully with a smile as I applied lip gloss to my lips.

"My names Willow." I said after rubbing my lips together and handing back the small tube.

"Wow, what a beautiful name!" She smiled turning back to the mirror and fluffed her hair some.

"Thank you." I said with a smile.

She turned back to me biting her bottom lip, giving me a look that said she was deciding in her head still if she should say it or not. Finally she said. "Can I tell you something? And please, _please, _don't be offended by it."

I blinked taken aback a little. "Ohh, umm sure. Go ahead." I said nervously.

"Well its just." She sighed. "You're much prettier as a blond then a redhead." _Huh? _I thought. Blinking at her again, she saw my expression and quickly added. "No no no no no. It's just that… your roots are showing." She said pointing to my hair. "I can see that you're naturally blond not red. And to be honest, blond is great on you. I mean the red is nice, but not that shade. Maybe like a strawberry but not a cherry. And you have very pretty eyes, and blond accents green very well." She said with pride.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror and ran a hand through my hair. "Oh, I didn't think about that when I decided to color it." I looked back over at her hair and found my eyes going straight to her extension. The one the color of Alex's eyes.

Nat smiled at me. "You like it?" she asked and I looked away. She giggled and lifted up a piece of her hair and unclipped the extension. She held it up next to my head and squinted her eyes at me for a second, then brought a knife out from her purse and cut the hair piece so it was as long as my hair. She moved some of my hair aside and clipped it to the right side of my head. "There, perfect." She smoothed some of my hair over it, then stepped back and motioned to the mirror.

I turned to the mirror and saw the blue and gray extension was nestled in my hair next to my eyes, perfectly complimenting the two together. "Are you sure it ok for me to have this?" I asked looking at her in the mirror.

"Of course it is. I have thousands. Literally." And with that she pulled a new one from her purse. This one was brand new and still in its plastic. It was purple, just like in my premonition.

"Can I ask how you know so much about hair?"

"I'm the top hairdresser on the west coast." She said with pride and a big smile.

"Oh wow. Have you been at it long?" I asked leaning against the sink.

"No, but I wish I had." She said as she clipped the new hair piece in her hair, and crumpled up the plastic throwing it in the trash can. She glanced over at me with a smile. "You know, I can take the red out for you if you'd like. Make you blond again." She looked up at my roots. "Just curious how much did you pay to have someone do that to your hair?"

"I did it myself." I mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.

"That explains it." She said. Then added quickly when she saw my expression. "I just mean, your roots and ends don't look very damaged. Have you ever dyed your hair before?" When I shook my head she continued. "That's good. Don't if you can help it. Coloring is the worst for hair; it makes the hair dry and cracked. Trust me you don't want that." She glanced down at her watch then cursed under her breath.

"I'm sorry did I keep you?"

She shook her head at me. "No I just forgot I have a nail appointment again. Honestly I forget every month." She said with a small laugh. She opened her purse and threw in her lip gloss tube and pulled out big black and purple sunglasses, a twenty dollar bill, car keys, and a small business card. Nat held out the card to me. "Here, this is the address, and phone number to my salon. I take appointment and walk-ins. Also I give every new customer four free sessions for whatever they want. And I mean whatever. I even do facials, manicures, pedicures, tweezing, and waxing's. All free the first four times you come in. tell your friends too."

"Ok. I'll give you a call in the next couple of days and set up an appointment." I said with a smile.

"Cool." She said putting the sunglasses on top of her head and swinging her purse onto her left shoulder.

"I'll walk you out." I said sliding the card in the back pocket of my jeans.

Nat and I headed out into the dinner chit-chatting. We departed at the front counter where Nat put down her twenty dollar bill, and a waitress put down a white Styrofoam package in front of her. She picked it up and turned back to me with a smile and we said our goodbyes. I walked over to the table with the others and stood at the end of the table watching Nat wave and say hello to people as she made her way to the door.

"We thought you fell in the toilet Willow." Sam said.

"Shut up Sam." Alex said to him. "Hey Willow, you ok?"

"Bye Willow." Nat said as she passed by me heading for the door.

"Bye Nat." I called back to her.

Everyone at the table went silent and turned to look out the window to watch Nat walk out the door and into the heat of Nevada. Alex stood up next to me and put an arm around my waist pulling me protectively close to him. We all watched as Nat walked over to a smoke gray… Porsche Carrera. She opened the driver door, bent in and placed her things on the passenger seat. When she stood back up she paused leaning against the door. She locked eyes with me through the window and winked, just before pulling her sunglasses over her eyes, climbed into her car, and driving away down the road.


	8. Chapter 8

**Everyone at the table went silent and turned to look out the window to watch Nat walk out the door and into the heat of Nevada. Alex stood up next to me and put an arm around my waist pulling me protectively close to him. We all watched as Nat walked over to a smoke gray… Porsche Carrera. She opened the driver door, bent in and placed her things on the passenger seat. When she stood back up she paused leaning against the door. She locked eyes with me through the window and winked, just before pulling her sunglasses over her eyes, climbed into her car, and driving away down the road.**

I starred opened mouth as I watched her car get smaller and smaller down the road. I glanced up at Alex to see him starring out the window at the car, his eyebrows creased; in what I was guessing was confusion.

"Holy shit, did you see that car?" Liz breathed dreamy like, breaking the silence first.

"No, did you see the body on that girl!" Sam said with a smirk and gave a low whistle. He looked over at me. "A friend of yours Willow?"

Now all eyes were on me. I looked up at Alex again and whispered. "That was the girl from my premonition."

We all sat and ate lunch, and I explained to everyone my encounter with Nat in the bathroom and told them everything that happened. Then filled in Liz and Sam about my premonition, leaving the part about Alex and the gun out.

"She said she was a hairdresser. She even gave me a card for her salon." Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out the small card and handed it to Sam.

"You told me when you had a vision about her she had a gun, did you see one on her just now?" Alex asked me.

I shook my head slowly gazing down at the table trying to remember every inch of Nat that I could remember. Shirt, jeans, shoes… no gun.

"I've never seen a car like that." Seb said.

"I have." I said quietly glancing over at Alex.

"Really?" Liz asked excitement building in her eyes.

Alex chuckled. "Yea, I use to have one. When I first met Willow I was still driving the one the CIA gave me." Then he paused and his eyebrows started coming together. "But… what would a hairdresser be doing driving something like that?" He asked I think more to himself rather than the rest of us.

I slid out of my chair and stood up stretching my arms. "Can we get to the camp now please?"

Once inside the Jeep, Alex behind the wheel and me in the passenger seat looking out the door window, Alex paused before putting the key in the ignition. I heard him shift in his seat so that he was, I'm guessing, facing me.

"Hey." He whispered to me, putting a hand on my shoulder and turning me so I would face him. I looked over at him and he placed his hand from my shoulder to my cheek. "You ok?" he asked quietly.

I nodded and pressed my cheek into his hand. "I just wish I could have gotten some answers out of her before she took off."

"Don't worry, tomorrow I'll take you to the salon and we can ask her all the questions you want. Sound good to you?"

"What about the others?" I asked.

"They can come if they'd like." He said with a small laugh.

I looked away from him and shifted awkwardly in my seat. "No, that's not what I meant… you said we were going to get them situated and head to New York."

"And we are. It'll take at least two days to get them situated. Its only Tuesday, by Friday morning we'll be on the road just you and me headed for New York. Unless you decide that you want to stay here a little while longer. Its all up to you ok."

I held his hand that was still resting on my cheek and brought his palm to my lips and kissed him. Sam pulled up in the truck next to us just when I was about to say something. Liz rolled down the passenger window, and Alex rolled down his. Sam yelled at us that they were going to go ahead of us, get to the camp and see what they could do so far, and that they'd call us later. Alex said ok and told them to be careful. After the truck headed northwest up the road, Alex ran a hand through my hair tucking a piece behind my ear.

"Well. What would you like to do now?" He asked me with a smile. "Its hardly noon, we could spend the day together. What do you think?"

I bit my bottom lip and looked up at him through my lashes. "Well, there is one thing I'd like to do."

We arrived at _'Changing Styles'_ hair salon twenty minutes later. Alex let me drive the Jeep, and I brought us to the salon Nat owns. I parked in the lot in front of the small brick building and cut the engine. I looked over at Alex biting my lip, I could see in his eyes that he was finally piecing together this was her salon.

"You want to talk to her now?" He asked me arching an eyebrow.

"Sort of." I said. I paused then after a moment slowly finished. "I really want to take the red out of my hair and go back to being blond. Nat told me that she can take it out and I just really, _really _miss being blond Alex-"

"Willow, calm down. Its your hair, if you want to take the color out go ahead." He said cutting me off.

I smiled back at him and practically jumped out of the window of the Jeep to get to the door of the shop. Opening the door up to a blast of wonderful cool air-conditioning, I stepped in only a few steps and was instantly hit with the smell. Normally I would have guessed a hair salon to smell like hair-dye, bleach, or cleaning products. The scent in the air here is a wonderful warm, sweet, and chilling raspberry all at the same time. Standing in the doorway I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth.

"Willow?" I hear my name being yelled. I open my eyes just in time to see a blur of a figure wrap her arms around me and squeeze me in a tight bear hug. "I was hoping you'd come see me today!" Nat said cheerfully.

"Hey Nat!" I said hugging her back. "I hope its ok, I wanted to take you up on your offer to get this red out of my hair."

A big grin spread across her face as she nodded her head. "Hell yea, I'd love to. It'll give me something exciting to do today." She glanced up at Alex then back to me. "Who's this?"

"Nat this is my boyfriend Alex, Alex this is Nat."

"Alex." He said holding out his hand to her.

"Hi, I'm Nat. Welcome to Changing Styles" She shook his hand with a big grin.

"Follow me Willow." Nat said as she took me by the wrist and led me to an empty chair in front of a black porcelain sink. "Alrighty I'm just going to tie this around your neck. Ok now I'm going to lean the chair back and wash your hair ok."

"Alright."

Nat glanced over at Alex as she turned on the water and adjusted the temperature. "You know Alex, I do guys haircuts as well. I could give you a little trim; maybe get some of that hair out of your face." She said as she started to quickly wash my hair.

"Nah I'm good." He said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Fine suit yourself." She sighed. "You can take a seat in an empty chair here," She pointed to one of the few empty salon chairs. "or you can sit in the waiting chairs by the front." Pointing to the few leather arm chairs.

"I'll take the big chair." He said with a smile.

"Ok Willow, sit right here while I go and get the color removal." She wraps my hair in a plastic bag type cap clipping it on both sides with pins. Nat moved to a back room for a moment, there was a scraping sound that came from the room, and next thing was Nat walking back out with a small three-step step ladder.

"Ok Nat. I'm clocking out early." Yelled a voice. I turned my head towards the back of the salon to see a tall chocolate skinned girl who looked only about a couple of years older than me, in red skinny jeans, a tight black tank top, and black high heel stilettos with an afro come walking out of a back room carrying a purse in one hand and car keys in the other. She walked to a computer next to the front door, typed a few keys and headed out of the door.

"Ok bye Jasmine." Nat called back.

"She's gone already." I said to Nat as she walked up with the step ladder.

"That girl. She's the other hairdresser here. Second best in the state!" She smirked.

Nat walked over to a tall bookshelf filled with shampoos, conditioners, and other bottles filled with what I'm guessing is hair care products. Where she was standing I was looking at the whole left side of her body. Nat unfolded the ladder in front of the bookshelf and climbed to the highest step. Standing up on her tiptoes and reaching for a blue bottle on the very top of the book shelf, and as she reached up with her arms her sleeve slid up her arm to rest on her shoulder. My eyes grew wide and my mouth fell open as my eyes settled on Nat. On her left arm was a thick, black, bold tattooed AK. Just like Alex has, just like Kara had.

I turned around in the chair to see if Alex had been watching. He had. I watched him with wide eyes, to see him slowly standing from the chair he was in. I looked back at Nat to see her climbing down from the ladder looking at the bottle in her hands, her sleeve falling back down her arm. She hadn't noticed that Alex and I were starring at her.

"How long have you been an Ak?" Alex asked. Nat froze mid step, bottle in hand, and cursed under hear breath. When she looked up her eyes went straight to Alex, then slowly she turned her gaze to me, and the next thing I knew Alex was in front of me with his gun in hand by his side. Nat straightened up and walked over to a table with a mirror attached to it.

"Calm down hotshot I'm not going to shoot her. If I was I would have done it earlier today at the restaurant." Nat placed the bottle she was carrying on the table and turned around to face us. She leaned against the table and crossed her arms over her chest. "So a half angle huh?" She chuckled at my expression. "Don't look so surprised, I can read energy and aura's from a mile away."

"You didn't answer my question." Alex said firmly.

"I can't answer your question." She said slowly.

"And why not?" Alex snapped.

Nat shifted her eyes from me back to Alex. "Because I'm not an AK anymore, I gave up that lifestyle a couple of years ago." She said simply.

Alex and I stood there starring at her mouth agape, I grabbed onto Alex's hand and he squeezed mine back tightly.

"What do you mean you're not an AK anymore? You turned your back on the human race?" Alex asked, I could hear the anger building in his voice. I wonder if Nat could too.

She scoffs "Please as if. When angels come into Nevada they don't last very long, I hunt them down and exterminate them, permanently. But I don't go around the country anymore hunting down angles from an unknown source. That, I gave up years ago."

"Why?" I asked finally finding my voice. "Why stop the traveling part I mean."

Nat's eyes shifted back to me quickly. She sighed heavily and pushed off from the table grabbing the bottle and took a step towards me. Alex raised his gun to her and Nat gave him a look that said _don't be stupid._

"Put the gun away before I take it from you. I told you I'm not going to kill her." She opened that bottle and squeezed some lotion into her hand. "Look Willow, let me do your hair like a said I would, and I'll answer whatever kind of questions you have. Ok?"

"Alex. Its ok, we can trust her." I said as I squeezed his hand again.

"Are you sure?" He asked me, not taking his gun or eyes off Nat.

"Yes." I sat back down in the chair and let go of Alex's hand. "Alex put the gun away please." Alex lifted the hem of his shirt and tucked the gun into the waistband of his jeans, him and Nat never taking their eyes off of each other.

Nat walked around Alex back to me and lowered my head back into the sink and took off the plastic cap. She squeezed a big glob of lotion into her hand and lathered it into my hair. She sighed heavily as she worked her fingers in my hair.

"So what do you want to know?" Nat asked.

"Who are you?" Alex asked bluntly.

"My name is Nattallia Rae Demier."

"Ive never seen you before. What camp did you train from?" asked Alex.

"My parents started the one in Alaska, it was called the Ice Caps."

"Was?... Wait Ice Caps?" I could hear the confusion in Alex's voice.

Nat nodded her head slowly as her hands started to slow down scrubbing my hair, her eyelids grew low, and I could see that she was remembering old times.

"What happened to it?" Alex asked slowly. I looked over at him and saw emotion in his eyes. He was remembering Cully, and what became of the camp he grew up at.

I looked back over at Nat to see her jaw clenched and her eyes full of anger as she starred down into the sink. "Angels." Is all she said before starting to scrub my hair again.

"Please tell us what happened." I said softly to Nat.

"Then I'll have to start at the beginning." She sighed heavily, her voice full of emotion.

"Ok." I said.

She stopped moving and closed her eyes taking a deep breath. "My father and his best friend met back in middle school. After high school my dad met my mom and the two of them went off to college together, while his best friend went to work with the government. A handful of year later my parents decided to track down my dad's best friend and all three of them build a friendship together. When my dad found him he was living in Chicago, he even had a wife." Nat was slowly messaging my scalp, adding small blobs of the lotion every now and then.

Nat continued. "My dad and his friend picked up right where they left off, and my dad was totally happy for it. Then one night my dad's friend told him about what he had discovered over the years and what his job really was. He explained to my father that there are thing on this earth that not everyone is aware of. He explained the angels, the feeding." Nat drew in a deep ragged breath and let it out through clenched teeth. "The angel burn." She said the last word with venom dripping from her tongue.

I looked over to Alex to see him leaning against the table with his arms crossed over his chest starring at Nat, giving her his full attention.

Blinking back tears Nat continued. "The two of them being best friends my dad believed him. But then when my dad found out that what he was saying was true… my dad nearly had a fucking heart attack. He had been over in Asia for a while studying the art of using chakras, and reading energies and he taught my parents everything he knew; my dad took to that very quickly and strongly. And in return my mom taught him what she knew about weapons, though my dad's friend already knew enough." She chuckled softly. "Ok Willow, this needs to sit and soak in your hair, so just lay here and don't move." Nat wiped her hands off on a towel and went and sat down on an open table before picking up a small kitchen timer and turning it all the way.

She sat quiet for a minute, the ticking of the timer the only noise filling the room. Nat sat wiping her hands slowly on the towel, and starring off into space. Taking a deep breath in and out through her mouth, and throwing the towel in an open hamper in the corner she turned back to Alex and I.

Nat cleared her throat. "So anyway, my dad's friend was able to get sponsored from the government a few years later and he and my parents moved to New Mexico to start up an angel killer camp site. After about a month my mom's job had to relocate her to Alaska. So my parents moved, but decided that they were going to put together an angel killer camp as well. My dad's friend came and helped him set it up, even helped him go scouting for trainees. Three months later my mom found out she was pregnant with me. And dad's friend found out his wife was pregnant a week later; she ended up having a boy on her first try. Before my mom got too far along in her pregnancy she was able to find work with the CIA, she told them about the angels and surprisingly they believed her right away. So my parents had funding for their camp, and so did dads friend."

Nat paused for a moment and I dared a glance over at Alex. He was starring at the ground eyebrows knit together, deep in thought. Then something clicked inside my memory, something Alex had told me when he and I we're in the cabin.

"Did you ever meet your dads friend?" I asked Nat.

"Of course, he stayed with us for a little while on and off, only about a handful of months at a time."

"What else?" Alex blurted out interrupting my thoughts.

Nat glanced at him then cleared her throat. "So anyway, the years past and I quickly took on the life of an AK. Knives, guns, bow and arrows you name it I became skilled in it before the age of five. I had my first solo kill at age six." Nat smiled at herself, I could see in her eyes that she was remembering her very first solo kill. Then her eyes started to grow dark anger building back up. "My dad and his friend, and the people who trained at our camp, would always talk about this one particular angel that somehow would slip through their fingers every single time they went out hunting for it. A week after my seventh birthday in the middle of the night there was a fire at our camp-" Nat's voice caught in her throat.

"I was the only one to survive. My parents, all the new recruits, and the people who lived at the camp were all killed in the fire." Nat's voice barely came over a whisper. "I woke up to the smell of smoke, and the next thing I knew the door to my room was on fire and I had to jump out of the window to escape. That's when I saw him. He was standing on the other side of the fence that enclosed our camp. Laughing." She sniffed and I suddenly realized she'd been silently crying. "That bastard was laughing!" She screamed.

She sat quiet for a moment and the muscle in her jaw jumped, she continued. "I found out my only other living relative at the time had, unfortunately, been touched by angel burn. I went to live with her in Washington. I took care of her up until the day she died. That lasted me about the age of ten. My dads friend got a hold of me and offered me to come live with him and his family. He told me his wife had had another son. I'd told him I'd think about it. But it never happened. I went on my own and started the traveling. I went all the way to D.C. talked to the CIA, got my car a few days later. They wouldn't let me drive it for a while though. Anyway, years went by and I traveled, killed angels, even managed to recruit a couple of people. I told them I didn't do the team thing anymore, so I sent them to the Southern Raiders camp."

"What? What's that?" Alex interrupted.

"The Southern Raiders is an AK camp. My parents and I named all the camps, just something silly we did when I was little. There are three total. The one is Alaska where I'm from is called Ice Caps, the one in North Carolina is called Green Shades, and the one in New Mexico we called Southern Raiders. There's some fierce AK's that come out of there" Nat said coolly.

"What was the friends name? Is he still alive?" Alex asked.

"No he's not alive anymore, I found out a few years ago from a source that he past away."

"Name?" Alex asked with an attitude.

"Kylar, Martin Kylar." Nat said softly.

**This chapter is dedicated to someone who loves the Angel Burn series as much as I do! ****Kavers101**** ! **** Thank you for your support! New chapter up soon! Reviews please. Tell me what you think of Nat!.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Alright I'm in

"**Kylar, Martin Kylar." Nat said softly.**

I shot straight up in the chair splashing water everywhere, gaping at Nat my eyes wide, mouth hung open. I looked over at Alex to see him frozen stiff, eyes wide and burning into Nat, jaw clenched. I even think he's holding his breath.

"Willow, lay back dow-"

"Say that again." Alex interrupted. His voice came out quiet and barely audible. "Who did you just say?"

"Martin Kylar. What's the big deal?" Nat said to Alex. She slid off of the table and started walking towards me shaking her head in frustration.

"Martin Kylar was my father." Alex's voice, a barely there whisper.

Nat froze mid step, and stood gaping at Alex wide eyed. I looked back and forth between the two of them my mouth hung open. After what seemed like hours had past Nat broke the silence first.

"How old are you?" She asked Alex, her eyebrows frowning together.

"Eighteen. How old are you?"

"I'm twenty. You must be the younger son then. I saw the little group you guys were with, is your brother with them?"

My mouth opened and closed as I looked over at Alex, my eyes softening as I watch him. I saw Alex's jaw jump.

"He's not alive." He said quietly.

Nat's entire body shifted. "Damn, I'm sorry. How long ago?"

Alex's jaw jumped before he answered. "Two years."

Nat nodded her head slowly. She slowly looked back over at me, and it was as if reality had come back to her. "Willow, you have to put your head back down if you want the color to come out properly." Nat made her way over to me. She pushed me gently back down in the chair. Then suddenly she froze and her head shot up towards the front door and she cursed under her breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"We're going to have to cut this a little shot Willow; I've got to make a run." She pulled the drain from the sink and quickly lifted the chair back up helping me sit straight. Nat wiped her hands on her jeans and walked quickly over to the front counter where she pulled out a hand gun with a shiny top of the line silver silencer from a locked drawer and set it on the table next to the computer.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked as he made his way over to the front counter as I untied the cape from my neck and made my way over standing next to Alex. My hair dripping wet, and water running down my back and soaking my shirt.

Nat checked the magazine in the gun and sent it right back in a half second later. "I'm sensing a couple of angels. They've just crossed the state line, and they're heading this way." Nat opened another drawer and pulled out her big purse. She fished around inside for her set of car keys, then zipped the purse shut, grabbed her gun, and headed for the door.

I looked over at Alex to see his gun at his side with the safety flicked off.

"We're coming with you." He muttered getting back into his role of leader of the AK's.

"I don't do teams." She muttered as she tried to side step us and get out the door.

"Nat please let us go with you." I pleaded.

Nat stopped in her tracks with a hand on the door ready to exit, and turned back to face us. With a heavy sigh she looked from me to Alex. "Fine. Grab one of those towels Willow for your hair, and let's go. But you better stay out of my way."

I grabbed a towel off of a table and ran out the door behind Alex. Outside the shop Nat locked the door behind her and walked about four steps before she stopped and glanced between Alex and me to her Porsche, then her gaze fell on the Jeep.

She thrust her hand out in front of her. "We're going to have to take your Jeep; I'm driving, hand over the keys."

I glanced up at Alex then back at Nat, the two of them standing tall with locked gazes. _At the rate these two are going it'll be a fight around every corner. UGH!_ I thought to myself. I pulled the Jeep's keys out of my pocket and handed them to her. She wrapped her fingers around the keys, gave me a smile, and headed for the driver side door.

About twenty minutes later, Nat behind the wheel, Alex in the passenger's seat, and me in the back. Nat zoomed down the two lane road, heavy metal blaring through the speakers. Nat looked up at me through the rearview mirror. "You. I'm going to need your help for a moment now." I sat up in my seat. "I need you to become your angel and fly about seven miles ahead of us-."

"_Hell no._" Alex yelled over the music. "She's not leaving this Jeep. Just drive until you find the damn angels and let's get this over with."

Nat crooked her head to the right and narrowed her eyes at Alex. She turned her gaze back to the road in silence. A second later Nat slammed down on the brake and the Jeep came to a screeching halt - throwing me forward, the seat belt cutting into the skin at my stomach and neck - in the middle of the road. Nat put the Jeep in park and turned off the engine the silence thick with tension. Turning back to Alex Nat said in a too calm voice. "What the hell is your problem? All I asked was for her help. You're her boyfriend, not her owner."

Before Alex could even answer I unclipped my seat belt and climbed onto the center console between them. "I'll help, I'll help! Please don't start fighting!" I pleaded holding my hands up in front of Nat trying to give her my best apologetic smile.

"Willow stop." Alex said in a low voice. "You're not going to put yourself in danger."

I looked over my shoulder and gave Alex a pointed look. Sliding back into my seat, I rested my head back against the chair, closed my eyes, and took deep breaths. Finding my center, I reached out to my angel and found her instantly. She and I became one, and suddenly I was floating above the Jeep. My wings stretched out on my back glinting from the sun and I took off fast flying a head of the Jeep.

Minutes past until I started to feel something. The further I pressed on I started to recognize the feeling as something angelic. I realizing I was flying very fast, I slowed down and flew to a small gathering of trees. Hiding behind a couple of big Oak trees I pushed with my mind and senses to find the approaching angels. I counted six energy's, and they were heading towards me, and fast.

I turned on my wing and headed back for the Jeep. The closer I got, I could see Alex and Nat just sitting facing forward not saying anything. And Nat had a look of annoyance on her face. I flew back into the Jeep and connected back with myself quickly.

"How many?" Nat asked not turning around, or looking at me in the mirror.

"Six, and their heading this way, and _fast_." I glanced over at Alex and watched as he pulled his gun from the waistband of his jeans, and flick off the safety.

Nat looked at as if he was crazy. "What are you doing?" She asked him.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?" Alex got out of the Jeep and walked around to the front.

Nat cursed under her breath and jumped out of the car. I followed after both of them and stood beside Alex.

"Again, what the _hell _are you doing? I told you, I don't do teams." Nat glared at Alex annoyance laced in her tone.

"One against six? You think you can take down that many angels by yourself? You're not a superhero, and you're not immortal. Face the fact that you're going to need help." Alex hissed, and glared right back, standing up straight, and squaring his shoulders.

"Uhh guys?" I tried to get their attention.

"Let me tell you something hotshot. I've been doing this by myself for years. I haven't needed any help before, and just because you and your little team drop into _my _town doesn't mean I'm going to invite into my world or ask for you to invite me into yours. Just because you're Martin's son, doesn't give you the right to walk around with your nose in the air and order everyone around." Nat said to Alex. She stepped closer to him and got in his face and narrowed her eyes.

"Umm guys?" I pulled on Alex's shirt sleeve some still trying to get his attention.

"My nose stuck in the air? You're the one who's walking around and won't take help when its handed to you on a silver fucking platter." He said coolly.

"I don't need your help!" Nat screamed.

"_GUYS!_" I screamed as loud as I could. Alex looked over at me. "Can you two stop fighting for about five minutes?" I pointed behind Nat's head. Nat and Alex followed my finger and Alex cursed under his breath.

The angels were about a little over a hundred yards away. Alex cursed under his breath again and pointed his gun towards the angels.

"What if their sympathetic?" I asked quietly.

Before Alex could fire a shot, breathe his next breath, or I could even blink, Nat pulled her gun out from the waistband of her jeans and threw her arm as if she was throwing a fast-pitch baseball. There was one thick _thump _that came from the gun, and the next thing I saw were two angels blowing up, and the fall out falling to the ground. I looked to the remaining angels, they started to pick up speed heading towards us and we could hear them screeching with anger and fury.

"They're not sympathetic." Nat mumbled under hear breath before she took off on a slow jog toward the remaining angels.

"Whoa…" I stood there stunned. I hadn't even noticed that Alex had taken off ahead of me towards the angels as well. Remembering I didn't have a gun on me, and figuring I wasn't going to be much help I went back to the Jeep and stood on the other side in a crouch out of sight.

It wasn't until then that I remembered my aura, and the fact that I could change its color. I brought my aura into view and cursed myself. I had forgotten to change it from the silver and purple, to something unappealing to angels. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. _Dishwater brown_ I thought, and slowly my aura took on a disgusting shade of brown_. I don't think even a starving angel would come near me with this. _

I stood up and looked over the hood of the Jeep. Three more angels were gone, and the last one was making a straight line for Alex from behind. I started to reach of my angel, but I was stopped in my tracks suddenly and my blood turned to ice. Nat raised her gun, and from where I was it looked like she had her gun pointed right at Alex's brain. I let out an ear piercing scream when Nat slowly pulled the trigger. But the bullet didn't shoot Alex; it went right by his head and connected right in the middle of the angels' halo, fallout falling slowly to the ground. Alex and Nat stood starring at each other; silence ran thick in the air, and Nat slowly brought her arm down to her side and tucked the gun into the waistband of her jeans.

Slowly Alex tucked his gun away as well. I stood up from behind the Jeep and started to make my way over to them. Turning on her heel Nat made her way back to the Jeep. Shifting her gaze her Alex to the ground she took ten steps in my direction, when she looked up Nat stopped dead in her tracks, mouth agape, eyes wide and starring right at me. I stopped mid step, and looked over my shoulder thinking there was something behind me, when I turned back to Nat she was taking slow steps towards me.

Standing in front of me at arm's length away I could see that Nat wasn't looking at me like I thought. She was looking at my outline; my aura.

"How…?" Nat lifted her right hand and reached out towards me. She stopped her hand inches from my shoulder and she looked at me in the eyes. "Is... Is this ok?" I nodded my head to her and slowly her hand was skimming the surface of my aura. I could literally feel her fingertips in my aura.

I looked over Nat's shoulder to see Alex walk up and stand to my right. "Can you do this too?" Nat asked Alex but still keeping her hand touching my aura.

"No."

"I think it might only be an angel thing. Or at least a half angel thing." I said.

Nat brought her hand back to her side and gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I've just never seen something like that before." Nat sighed heavily. "Come on Willow, let's get back to my salon and I can finish taking out that red for you ok."

Back at _'Changing Styles'_ Alex, Nat, and I were sharing a moment of comfortable silence at the moment. We had been quietly chit-chatting, sharing some stories, and Nat had me back in the sink. Alex and I told her about what happened in Mexico City, about half the angels in the world being gone, and I told her about my premonition and her being in it. The rhythmic tick of the timer was the only sound eating at the quiet air around us. Alex had pulled up a chair to sit next to me, and Nat was back sitting on the table from earlier sipping from a two liter bottle of Dr. Pepper.

Nat cleared her throat causing Alex and I to glance over at her. "Look Alex…" Nat sighed heavily. "I'm sorry for earlier. It's just that there hasn't been any AK's around here in a long time, and I just, I guess it kind of threw me off balance to think there's still some left out there."

"Can I ask you something Nat?" He asked, and she nodded her head. "Why didn't you attack Willow this afternoon? She's half angel, aren't you afraid of her?"

Nat had her bottle of soda to her lips and was taking a sip when Alex asked her his question. She nearly spilt Dr. Pepper all over her clothes and shoes from laughing at him. "Seriously? Why would I attack her? When I said I would've shot her at the restaurant I said that because she scared me when I went into the bathroom, I didn't mean I would shot her because she's half angel… Did the others in your group try to kill her?"

"Sort of. They'd never seen a half angel before… except for Seb, because he is one."

"Ahh, now I see. Well that's stupid, half angels aren't the enemy, it's a good thing you found those two when you did Alex. They'll be useful in the war."

Alex chuckled. "Yea and I-… Wait…?" Alex's eyebrows started to slowly come together. "Have you seen a half angel before? We all thought Willow and Seb were the only ones in the world."

This time Nat did spit Dr. Pepper all over the floor and her Converse shoes as she belt out a great laugh. "You guys think you're the only half angels in the world? _**HAHAHAHA! **_No, I can promise you, you're not the only half angels. Though you might be the only ones on the west coast right now, but certainly not the first."

Alex's jaw had fallen open and so had mine. Just when I was about to ask Nat a question the timer went off. Nat jumped off of the table and made her way over to me. Her walk was calm and collective, her shoulders were relaxed, and she had the bottle of soda to her lips as she took a gulp. Everything about Nat screamed 'leader' and she her entire being was a 'don't-fuck-with-me' attitude. But even with the short amount of time I'd spent with Nat, I knew she was a born leader, and that she'd be the one to help us in bring down the angels.

"Ready to be blond again Willow?" Nat said in a cheerful voice.

"Absolutely!"

When Nat was done washing out my hair, giving me a little trim, blow drying my hair, and adding a blue-and-gray hair extension she smiled at me and turned my chair around to face the mirror. It was just like my premonition, me in a chair looking back at my reflection. The emotions were just like I knew they'd be. Happiness, joy, and also sadness rolled into one. I caught Alex's gaze in the mirror, he had a smile on his from what I could see through the blur of tears in my eyes. Slowly Alex put his arms around my shoulders, leaning over the back of the chair and kissed my neck.

"You look beautiful." He whispered in my ear.

"Thank you." I leaned back into his hug and smiled at our reflection.

"Eww, no romance in my salon you crazy horny teenagers!" Nat yelled as she came out from the back room. "Seriously no mushy shit here, I hate seeing people in love."

"You know Nat, I know someone who would be great with you. He has a loud Texas accent, blond hair, blue eyes, tall, kind of lazy, but he's still a good AK." I said with a laugh.

"Willow Nat would chew up and spit out Sam." Alex whispered quietly in my ear.

"I know, but maybe she'd straighten him out of his laziness." I whispered back.

"No thanks. I love my work too much to be in a relationship right now." Nat said.

Alex kissed my cheek one last time before helping me out of the chair. "There's something I'd like to ask you for Nat. A favor really." He said to her with an apologetic smile on his face

Nat raised an eyebrow at Alex and took a seat in a salon chair crossing her legs, and her arms over her chest then waved her hand in a gesture for him to continue.

Alex sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Here's the thing. I'd like to ask you to join our team." Nat opened her mouth to protest her '_I don't do teams_' but Alex put a hand up to stop her before she could. "Hear me out please. You killed _five_ angels by yourself today. Without even breaking a sweat! Even I cant do that. From the looks of it, there's only six AK's left in the world, you included it that. Willow was telling the truth about half of the angels in the world being gone. Well now is the time to fight back, and destroy the rest of them while we still have a chance.

"Look all I'm asking is that you think about it. Maybe come and meet the rest of the team. We're going to need all the help we can get in bringing down the rest of the angels. We need your help Nat, please." Alex and I stood staring at Nat. Slowly I realized I was biting my cheek because I started to taste blood.

Nat looked between the two of us for a long time. Minutes ticked by before the silence was broken by Nat. "Listen, I'm not joining your team right now ok? _But_ I will hear you out and I will think about it. I understand that youre going to need my help, and you'll get it no problem. Tell you what… I'll come to your camp and meet everyone and see if I can get use to the environment, if everything goes ok, I'll think about joining up with you all. But if not then I'll stay a solo, and you and I will only work together on hunts… _occasionally_."

"How about a trial run?" Alex offered.

"What do you mean?" Nat asked.

"Here's why I'm bringing this up now. Willow and I need to go to New York. She has some family issues she needs to take care of, and I'm going with her…. Here's where you come in."

"Youre about to ask me to babysit aren't you?" Alex nodded his head to her and she let out a heavy sigh and ran her hands through her hair. "Alex…"

"Please Nat." I said quietly. "It's a trial run remember. Two weeks is all we're asking for. I swear I will forever be in your debt. Our team needs someone to show them around, and help them get better and become great AK's like you. I know you have great leadership abilities, and its time you see that. Please."

"Did you guys forget that I have a salon to run? I cant close down shop for two weeks, and like hell will I let Jazmine take over."

"I'll think of something for you. Maybe you could do half and half? Please Nat, we need you. You and Willow have connected a bond already; please at least do this for her." Alex said.

All was quiet again. The ticking of the clock on the wall, my heart pounding in my ears, and Alex's breathing the only sounds around. Minutes passed by, but they felt like hours. Nat sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Alright I'm in. Two weeks, that's all I'm giving you. You better not make me regret this." She finally said.


	10. Chapter 10

"**Alright I'm in. Two weeks, that's all I'm giving you. You better not make me regret this." She finally said.**

**NAT'S POV**

"This is Liz and Seb." Alex pointed to the two kids in the firing range. They waved then went back to practicing. "Liz where's Sam?" Asking a girl with long black sleek hair, and from what Nat could tell needed a bit of a haircut.

"The last I saw he was heading for the bathroom… about twenty minutes ago." Liz said as she took aim for the swinging target. Nat smirked watching Liz, _wow Alex wasn't kidding when he said these kids need someone to show them the ropes... this girl has to two handed aim to hit a moving target_. Nat thought to herself.

Both Alex and Nat were exploring the grounds. "This is the first time Willow and I are seeing the camp grounds as well." Nat nodded her head to him following a few steps behind him quiet; eyeing what would be her new surroundings for a while.

"Where_ is_ Willow?" Nat asked.

"She said she wanted to get dinner started. She loves to cook so I'm not surprised." Nat just nodded her head in response. They were outside on a cement walkway heading towards the bunk house when a door to what looked like a canteen to Nat flung open and a guy about her age stepped out into the sun and Nat froze dead in her tracks. She barely heard Alex say. "There's Sam."

Nat watched as a blond spiky haired guy about her age, in jeans that hug low on his hips, and a red t-shirt -that showed off his mouth watering muscles-, with black tennis shoes walk out the door. His skin was golden sun kissed, and even from where Nat stood she could see that his eyes were a great deep blue. She hadn't even spoken a word to him and already the air around her was thinning and she was becoming light-headed. She couldn't take her eyes off of him, and the closer he walked toward where she stood her heart rate picked up tenfold.

_Get a grip Nattallia! You haven't even said hello to him yet! How can you be acting this way, you're a trained assassin, you don't have crushes on people! _Nat yelled to herself. But she couldn't remember how to breath, blink, and form words at the same time as he stepped in front of her and Alex.

"Sam this is Nat, Nat this is Sam. Willow and I found our first recruit today. She'll be staying here while Willow and I are in New York." Alex said as Sam gave Nat a once over and smiled approvingly.

"Nice." Sam extended his hand out to Nat. "Welcome to the team," Nat slowly puts her hand in his, and instantly a jolt of electricity ran through her whole body. "Oh now I recognize you. You're that hottie with the sick ass car, and it turns out you carry a gun? Sweet." He says coolly with a proud smirk on his face.

_Say something! _Nat screamed to herself. Still holding his hand she can't even manage to tear her eyes away from his. Finally Nat finds her voice. "Umm… hi? Yea." With a small shake of her head she tries to pull her composer back together. "Thank you. Yea, I'll be here to help you guys anyway I can."

"I look forward to it." He says as they let go of each other's hands and Sam turns back to Alex. "Where's Liz, Willow's looking for her. Something about helping with food."

"She's in the firing range. I'll get her." Alex says as he makes his way back the way he and Nat came.

Sam turns back to Nat with a small smirk on his face. "So how far did Alex show you around?"

"The firing range up to right here." Nat gave a small laugh and a blush started to creep up her cheeks.

"Well come on let me show you around." Sam turned and headed toward the canteen, Nat still stood in a daze in place and Sam called over his shoulder. "Hey girl, come on! Pick up the pace!" His loud Texas accent echoing over the dessert.

Nat smirked to herself and slowly walked to catch up. _Well Nat. Looks like you might have to go back on your rule about dating._

"Dinner was great Willow." Seb said around a mouth full of food.

"Hey I helped too!" The girl with long black hair says. What was her name again? …. Liz! That's it, Nat thought to herself.

"Well it was good both of you." Nat says wiping her mouth, and putting her napkin down on her plate. She glanced up across the table to see Sam watching her shyly. When their eyes met a full on blush took over her all the way up to the roots of her hair.

"Since Nat's new let's play a game. We'll all go around the table and tell something about ourselves that no one else knows. That goes for you two as well Alex and Willow." Liz said as she picked up her plate and went into the back towards the kitchen.

"I'm down." Nat said as she started to pick her plate up and head for the kitchen. Sam stopped her and took her plate for her staking it on top of his.

"I got this for you." Sam gave her an old fashion Texas wink and headed for the kitchen.

"Thank you." Nat whispered but Sam was too far now to hear it.

After dinner everyone had sat around the table, Alex explained to everyone what would be happening in a couple of days; he and Willow leaving for New York, Sam being in charge, and also how Nat came into play. Both Alex and Willow told the rest of the group how Nat killed five angels by herself, and how Alex managed to get _one_ of them. Willow told them about how Nat killed two angels with one bullet, and how it looked like Nat had thrown the bullet at them like a curve ball.

Nat sat back in her chair with her legs crossed, and arms folded over her chest with a small smirk on her face. All three, Sam, Liz, and Seb sat wide eyed and mouth agape and almost star struck gazing at Nat.

"Is it a trick?" Liz asked tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Depends what you mean by trick. Can it be taught? Yes. Is it hard to learn? Absolutely. But it's very effective, and if you're willing to have patience I can teach it to you." Nat said coolly as she inspected her nail polish. She looked up from her nails and instantly her eyes connected with Sam's. He gave her a small smirk and a blush rose on Nat's face again.

"Let's play the game now. Seb how about you go first? Tell us something about you that no one else knows." Willow said cheerfully, she sat next to Nat holding Alex's hand in his lap, she could see Alex stroking Willow's knuckles with his thumb. Nat smiled on the inside at the two of them. She loved seeing people in love; it reminded her of her parents.

Nat listened for the first couple of minutes as Seb tell his story about how he tricked a couple of thugs into giving him their money without even a threat. Nat laughed along with everyone quietly, put in her 'uh-huh's' at times when someone would say her name, but she had lost interest with the silly game a long time ago.

After Seb finished his story it was Liz's turn. "Ok well when I was younger my best friend Kimmy and I..." That's as far as Nat listened until she tuned out once again. Glancing to her right Nat saw Willow snuggle closer to Alex and he put his arm around her neck and kissed her forehead whispering something into her ear causing Willow a blush fiercely, hide her face in his shoulder, and giggle.

Slowly Nat's mind started to drift off as the memory that has haunted her since she was seven years old slowly floats into her vision. The day the AK camp in Alaska went down in flames, taking down friends, people who were going to make a difference in the world against angels, and more than anything… her parents.

"Great job Nat!" Jeremiah Demier hollered to his seven year old daughter.

Jeremiah Demier, Nat's dad.

Nat slid off her noise cancelling headphones so they sit on her shoulders and waves at her dad with one hand, the other flicking the safety back on, on her gun and tucking it into the gun holster that's strapped to her shoulder. As she made her way back towards the ammo hut where her father stands Nat critics her work and smiles, loving the warm breeze that's flowing through her hair.

Standing an even six feet tall with shaggy honey blonde hair, hazel eyes, warm golden skin tone, and a body that screams that he lives at the gym. Jeremiah was born in New York an only child. Both his mother and his father were military, so he was born an 'army brat'. He and his parents moved around a lot, so by the time he was twelve he had seen so much of the world, that it would've taken him until the end of time to just write down all that he knew. He was protective and strict, loving and caring, a great husband and an even better father.

The sun was going down and Nat had been target practicing all day getting ready for the big hunt her, her father and a few new recruits are taking tomorrow. Being seven she'll be the youngest in the group but as her father, and her father's best friend Martin Kylar tell her, she's the best they've seen. As Nat takes her time getting back to the ammo hut she pulls her chakra up from within herself and lets it hover above her eyes. Scanning the surrounding area of the camp site, she looks left and right with her eyes. Not picking up anything angelic Nat picks up her pace and heads to her waiting father.

"Nice work kid." Jeremiah clips her playfully on the shoulder.

"I'm not a kid anymore dad! I can't wait for tomorrow, I'm ready to bring down some angels." Nat says as she takes off her holster and gun and places them on a table.

"I'm excited to see you back in action again too Sprint."

Sprint, Nat's nickname given to her by Mr. Kylar last year after her first kill, when she literally jumped out of the car before her dad could put it in park and sprinted after the angel.

Nat and her father were making their way back to the canteen for supper and to find Nat's mom. "How many new people are we taking dad?" Nat asked.

"I'm thinking about Ethan and Ryan. They're the only ones who haven't been out on a hunt yet and I think it's time they did." He smiled down at his daughter and put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on let's get some food. You need to go to bed early and get enough rest. We're going to be heading into Canada so we'll be gone for a few days." Nat nodded her head and pulled the door to the canteen open.

Inside Nat found her mother stirring a big pot of chili from what Nat could smell.

"You're just in time you two." Tara Demier said brightly.

Tara Rae Hanson-Demier. Jeremiah's wife and Nat's beautiful mother. Standing about five foot six, bright hazel eyes, a smile that lights up any room, chest length Chesnutt brown hair, beautiful hour glass figure, and fare skin with small freckles dusting across her nose. Tara grew up an 'army brat' just like her husband, but unlike Jeremiah, Tara was sheltered. Her parents didn't let her stray too far from the sidewalk so to speak. Private schools all her life, first job at fourteen, and being the older of two kids Tara was plenty busy. But she found her fascination in weapons when she was thirteen and secretly dreamed of being an assassin. Never in her wildest dreams did Tara ever think it would come true.

Tara the brave and beautiful, the smart and kind, a mother and wife…

"I'm sooooo hungry mom!" Nat ran to her mother and gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek before taking a place at a table.

"Good because there's plenty of chili tonight." Her mother said with a smile.

As the night grew on the new recruits filled into the canteen to eat, share stories of the day, and plan on the upcoming. Jeremiah told Ethan and Ryan his plans again of the hunt. He instructed the men to get plenty of rest and be prepared for the worst for the next few days.

After everyone in the camp ate, threw away trash, put dishes in the sink, and went on their ways Tara sat down with Jeremiah next to Nat to talk about the upcoming few days.

"I'm going to miss you both so much." Tara said with tears in her eyes and she wiped imaginary dirt from Nat's face.

"We're going to miss you too honey. Don't worry we'll be fine. With hotshot here nothing will even dare cross us." Jeremiah reassured his wife. Tara sniffed a little and kissed her daughters cheek.

"Don't worry mom I'll call you all the time, I promise." Nat smiled up at her mother.

It was around one in the morning when it happened. Nat's parents had tucked her into bed a long time ago, but Nat was too excited about the days that followed to let sleep take her completely over. As a dream began to fill Nat's mind, she was floating. The sky above her head was bright blue, with small cotton white clouds dotting here and there. Slowly the sky around her started to turn gray bringing in dark black clouds, and she could smell burning woods, and something else that hurt her nostrils. The wind began to pick up and it jolted Nat, bringing her out of her dream with a start, her heart pounding against her rib cage. Nat blinked a few times to help her eyes adjust to the darkness around her as she gulped down deep breaths.

As her bedroom came into view around her Nat started to see, sense, and smell that something was wrong. She found that the burning of her nostrils was not just in her dream, it was happening to her now. Nat threw off the blanket and jumped out of the bed running to the door of her small bedroom. As she got closer to the door the tang smell of smoke and something she couldn't identify filled her lungs and she coughed and gagged for air as tears stung her eyes.

"Mom? Dad? Do you smell that?" Nat yelled as she reached for the door handle. When her fingers connected with the metal of the knob she brought her fingers back to her chest in a lightning fast move. Looking down as her hand she could just barely make out burned skin. That's when the strange smell came to her nose again. Nat brought her fingers to her nose and inhaled and her eyes went wide. The strange smell was burning skin.

Looking past her hand to the floor just under her bedroom door smoke was filling in her room, and a faint orange light could be seen through the gray haze.

"Dad?" Nat screamed as loud as she could around the coughs that escaped her throat. "What's happening? What's on fire? _Help!_" Nat balled her fist and started banging on her door coughing and trying to gulp down fresh air.

As Nat banged on the door she screamed at the top of her lungs for her parents. Suddenly the wooden door to her room was engulfed in flames. Nat stopped her fist mid swing, so she wouldn't burn her entire hand and arm. Jumping away from the door Nat screamed at the top of her lungs. Backing herself into the far corner of her room next to her closet and bookshelf Nat quickly scanned her bedroom. As panic raced through her, Nat realized that her tears were more from being scared than anything else.

Nat gave her head a fierce shake. _Calm down! You need to find a way out of here or you're going to die. Focus, and find a way out. NOW!_ Nat screamed at herself. Glancing all over her bedroom, Nat focus her eyes on her bedroom window. Looking back her room door and seeing that the flames were spreading and fast. Sucking down deep breaths Nat readied herself to bolt. Then she remembered her window is locked and the bolt was out of reach.

_The lamp._ Nat readied herself again to run, this time back towards the flames to grab her lamp. Nat pushed herself out of the corner and sprinted for her bedroom door. Grabbing the tall black floor lamp in her room as fast as she could and dodging the flames the best she could she ran back over to her bedroom window, using all of her upper body strength her seven year old body had Nat crashed the lamp through the glass. Pushing the remaining pieces of broken window out of the way and pulling herself with all of her upper-body strength, Nat shimmied out of the window and jumped down to the ground on the other side.

Slumping against the side of the building Nat wheezed, coughed, and gulped down air trying to clear her lungs. Looking left and right all Nat could see was dark sky and open ground with snow covering everything. Leaning over breathing heavy her hands on her knees Nat tried to rack her brain around what just happened. _What caught fire? _Nat could hear the crackling of wood burning. But what caught her attention was the smell of gasoline.

Pushing herself off of the wall Nat ran at full sprint towards the front of the building. Coming closer to the corner of the wall Nat stopped dead in her tracks. A sick feeling started to creep its way up Nat's spine making her feel as if she was going to puke. Nat knew this feeling without even having to think twice about it. There was an angel close by. Closing her eyes, finding her center, and in a three second count Nat brought her chakra to hover above her eyes.

Her entire body went red hot with rage and anger. Peering around the corner of the building ever so slightly, Nat saw what she was looking for. There was an angel standing in human form on the other side of the fence that surrounded the property. Nat couldn't make out much of his appearance except for the very expensive looking suit, hair a darker shade of black than the night sky around them, and a smirk on his face. At the angels feet sat a canister normally used to hold gasoline. Nat slowly put two and two together.

This angel just set fire to her camp.

"Nat?" Nat shot her head back up coming out of her daydream (day nightmare) to connect eyes with Sam who was smirking slightly at her. "Hello, it's your turn to share." Seb said with a chuckle.

Nat looked around and realized all eyes were on her. Turning bright red from a blush of being caught not paying attention, tears sprung to her eyes and she jumped up from her chair, a loud scraping noise following behind.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this right now. I'm going to bed. Thank you again for dinner." And with that Nat walked out of the canteen into the dessert night ignoring the others calling out her name, wiping tears from her cheeks, breathing heavy, and looking around the camp confused for a moment, not remembering the layout.

"Are you ok?" A deep voice asked her in concern from behind her.

Nat turned around to the voice and came to face with Sam. Trying to blink back tears, and wiping the running one from her face she nodded her head hurriedly. "Yea I'm fine. I just… I've got a headache, and want to go lay down." She crocked out.

Sam studied her for a moment, and then slowly nodded his head. "You look lost though. Come on I'll show you to the bunks." Nat didn't reply just nodded her head and followed behind him.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Sam asked Nat, but it only went through one ear and out the other. Nat sat on an empty bed hugging her waist, her gaze locked onto the ground, tears silently and slowly falling down her cheeks. Sam sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "Nat?"

Her head jerked up as if surprised to see him. "I'm sorry." She whispered wiping tears from her face.

"Don't apologize to me. If I asked what was wrong would you tell me?" Sam gave Nat a small smile, and with the softest-barely-there touch brushed one of Nat's tears away.

"When I was seven my parents, new recruits, and some friends all died. They were burned alive as they slept. An angel set my camp back in Alaska on fire." She paused for a moment. "Sometimes I get flash backs of that night. Unfortunately I had one during our little game."

Sam cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry…" Nat just nodded her head slowly. "If you still have a headache I can go see if we have any medicine for you."

Nat shook her head a small smile on her face. "No I'm fine. I never had a headache; I just didn't want the others to see me like this." Nat looked up and connected her gaze with Sam. They sat in comfortable silence together for a few moments, the sounds of the night echoing outside. "Tell me something about you."

Nat saw Sam's throat move as he swallowed. "Well, my mom worked for the government. That's how I became an angel spotter. My dad was a military school instructor. I love football."

Nat smiled at his last remark. "You're such a guy." She said, playfully punching his arm.

"Hey I'm from Texas what do you expect." That got a laugh out of Nat and Sam smiled in victory. "That's what I was looking for." Nat and Sam sat again in comfortable silence.

Slowly Nat stood up stretching. "I really am tired though. I'm going to go shower and go to bed."

Sam nodded his head. "Ok."

Nat pivoted slightly glancing back at Sam and the door leading to the bathroom. _Just say thank you._ Turning back to Sam deciding to go with her gut, she reached out her hand and ruffled Sam's hair playfully giving him a smile that lit up her face. "Thanks for cheering me back up Sam. Maybe it won't be so bad to work with you after all."

Sam gave Nat a wink and lay back on the bed with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "Tomorrow we'll get to training."

Nat chuckled. "No problem. You guys are going to need it." And with that Nat walked into the bathroom, turned on the water and got into the shower.

**A/N; I'm sorry this chapter took so long. This chapter has some personal attachments to my life and it made me cry every time I put my fingers to my key-board. Scouts honor I'll post the next chapter sooner! **


	11. Chapter 11 - It happened in a dream

**Nat chuckled. "No problem. You guys are going to need it." And with that Nat walked into the bathroom, turned on the water and got into the shower.**

**Back to Willow**

After Nat left the canteen with Sam following after her like a lost puppy, (how cute) Liz looked back over at Alex and me and cleared her throat.

"So Willow, tell us something about you that Alex doesn't know."

I looked up at Alex and new there were only a few things that I never told him. And they all had to do with my childhood…

I sighed and looked down at my hands in my lap. "The only thing I've never told Alex is about a few years of my life when I was a kid."

"Don't be shy. Tell us." Seb said with a small tilt of his head.

"Well… When I was little, maybe about six, seven, and eight my mom had put me in ballet class-." Instantly tears jumped to my eyes, and my throat clenched. "Um." I sniffled a little bit and wiped a tear that had fallen to my cheek. "Anyway. Like I said I was in a dance class. My mom would come to all of my programs, and cheer for me. She was music major in college and at home she would play the piano while I practiced my routines." How I missed my mom so much. Alex had an arm around my neck and I realized he was tightening his hold on me as I silently cried.

"Willow?" Seb said pulling my attention back.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I just miss her so much. I hope she's ok."

The game was over Liz and Seb went to the bunk house joining Sam and Nat, while Alex and I walked silently hand-in-hand to our own little studio apartment. As Alex crossed over the threshold of our apartment and flicked on the lights tiredness hit me like a ton of bricks. I walked in behind Alex and suddenly my knees went wobbly. Wind was rushing through my hair and the concrete floor started to grow bigger until it was the last thing I saw.

"Uuhhnh… what happened?" I asked grabbing my head, as my vision came back into view.

"Willow you fainted. Are you ok? You hit your head on the ground before I could grab you." Alex was holding me in his lap on the bed. At his words as if on cue my head throbbed as if someone was beating on it with a baseball bat.

"I think so. I just have a really bad headache." I tried sitting up but Alex tightened his hold on me.

"Don't. I'm going to go find you some aspirin then I'm putting you to bed got it?" I nodded my head slowly. Alex laid me down on the bed softly and kissed my forehead. He moved to the bathroom and I heard him shuffling around in the cabinet. When he reemerged he had a small cup of water in one hand and pills in the other and sat down on the edge of the bed next to me. Alex put the pills and medicine down on the table next to the bed and helped me slowly sit up. "Here." He said softly.

"Thank you." I whispered. After taking the aspirin and drinking the water down like my life depended on it, I chuckled at myself.

"What's so funny?" Alex asked.

"I don't know." I shook my head slowly and yawned. "I'm really tired let's go to bed." I whispered to Alex as I slowly leaned towards him, my eyes never leaving his lips.

Alex leaned forward slowly. He wrapped a hand around the back of my neck guiding me to him. The first kiss was just a taste. Alex softly brushed his lips against mine, and it sent shivers all through my body, leaving my lips with a tingling sensation. He pulled my head back to his and pressed his lips to mine. I felt Alex snake his tongue out and lightly tease my lips to open. I obeyed and instantly our tongues were dancing with each other.

I wrapped my arms around Alex's neck and he pulled me into his lap, our lips never breaking their connection. Our breath mingled around us, our tongues explored each other's mouths, and our body's pushed against one another. Alex's hands roamed all over my body, from starting at my lower back, to up my spine and back down, to my sides up to my breasts and back down to my hips.

"Alex," I moaned into his ear as he kissed my cheek and nibbled at my earlobe. As Alex moved his lips to my neck, his hands moved under my shirt; and his fingers sent waves of electricity throughout my whole body.

Alex found his way back up to my lips, kissing me deeply. We sat that way for minutes, maybe even hours before the kiss was finally broken. Both of us were breathing heavy, our foreheads rested against each other's, and our chests were heaving in rhythm.

"I love you so much." Alex whispered to me, his hands making lazy circles on my back.

"I love you too, Alex." I whispered back to him. Just then my head throbbed again, and a high pitched ring rang loudly in my ears. "_Ahh! Ouch!_" I screamed, my hands flying to my ears covering them as if I could try and stop the sound.

"Willow?" Alex said franticly. "What's going on?" Alex put his hands on my shoulders.

"Make it stop, _please_!" I buried my hands in my hair pulling it some, trying to do something to stop the pounding going on in my skull. Tears started to run down my cheeks, and I couldn't help the shakes and sobs running through my body.

"Damn it. What do I do?" I faintly heard Alex say. Finally as quickly as the pain came it was gone, and my whole body relaxed and slumped against Alex. "Are you ok?" He asked pulling back holding me by the arms studying my face.

I blinked hard, looked up into his eyes and nodded taking deep breaths, letting go of my hair. "Yea, I think so. Ouch that really hurt." I rubbed my temples in small circles.

"You need to lie down and go to sleep." The way Alex looked at me told me he was truly worried about what just happened.

"Ok." Is all I said. Alex and I settled under the covers, his legs tangled with mine, and his body half way lay on top of mine almost protectively, and his arms held me against his chest like his life depended on it. "Good night Alex." I whispered against his chest.

"Good night Willow." He said against my hair, tiredness laced throughout his voice.

"Will you promise me something?" I asked.

"Anything."

"Please be here next to me when I wake up in the morning."

Alex kissed my head and nuzzled my hair. "I'm not going anywhere Willow. I promise."

And with that I drifted off to sleep, letting the dream take me under.

_The dream was one that I've had many times. I was at my favorite café back in New York sitting at an outside table reading a book, and sipping tea. Little did I know this dream was about to be _very_ different._

"_Is this seat taken?" A male voice asked. I looked up from my book to see Alex standing over me. No wait that's not right… this isn't Alex. But it's a very close match. Same everything, except his body had a bit more muscle tone to it._

"_Um, sure I guess?" I dog-eared the page in my book and set it down on the table._

_He pulled out the chair from the table and sat down across from me, and just studied me for a moment. After a while he cleared his throat and looked me square in the eyes. "Willow, I need to talk to you about a few things." He said. Even his voice screamed Alex._

_Confusion took over me, and I scrunched my eyebrows together. "I'm sorry. Do I know you? How do you know my name?"_

"_Let me start from the beginning. Willow, I'm Jake. Alex's brother." He said slowly._

"_Um what? Jake's dead, and I never met him." I said with a chuckle._

"_I know I never met you, but I need to tell you something important, and warn you. Please you have to listen to me."_

_I started to shake my head slowly and rise up out of my chair. "I'm sorry I have to go." _

"_You're dreaming right now, you don't really have anywhere to go." This time it was his turn to chuckle._

"_I never met Jake, how can I be dreaming about him?" I asked him._

"_You're not dreaming about me. I put myself into your dream." He said simply with a small shrug of his shoulders._

"_What?" Looking at him confused._

"_You're dreaming, so you can control anything you want here. Except me." He said simply._

"_Oh really?" I looked up at the sky. The sun was shining and there were no clouds anywhere to be seen. I started to think about snow. And just like that a blizzard erupted around us. I made the ground shake and split open. I looked over to the guy sitting across from me and pictured a flower sprouting from his head. When nothing happened after a couple of seconds I gave up._

"_Done?" He asked with a smirk on his face. The same damn smirk Alex uses. He was definitely related to Alex._

"_If you really are Jake, why are you here in my dream and not visiting Alex?" _

_Jake leaned forward propping his elbows on his knees, he cleared his throat. "Because Alex dreams about me all the time, if I visited him he wouldn't be able to believe dream from reality."_

_I've always wondered what Alex dreams about. "What does he dream about?"_

"_You mostly. Our family being alive and he would bring you home to meet everyone. Sometimes about going to high school, falling in love with you and growing old together. But I'm almost always there eight out of ten times."_

_He does dream about me. I shouldn't be surprised by this, Alex tells me all the time that I'm in his dreams, but just hearing it and knowing that it's true brings tears to my eyes._

"_How are you here Jake? In my dream I mean." I asked wiping tears from my eyes and sitting back down in my chair pulling my knees up to my chest._

"_Call it trial and error. I've been trying for a while now to contact you. The first time was back in Mexico but you woke up before I was able to insert myself into your dream." He had a matter-of-fact tone the entire time._

"_How did you manage to get it right this time?" _

"_Mental power… I'm sorry. It's my fault you had that headache and ringing in your ears before you went to bed." He said with an apologetic smile._

_My mouth dropped open and I stared wide eyed at him. "That was you! I thought something was wrong with my brain!" I rubbed my temples. "That really did hurt Jake."_

"_I'm sorry Willow truly I am. Like I said Willow I have some really important things to talk to you about." I nodded my head to him and motioned for him to continue. "First I want to tell you that I've been watching over my brother since the day I died, and I want to thank you Willow for saving his life. Even if I am dead I still love my brother very much."_

"_He misses you so much Jake. There's not a day that goes by that he doesn't think about you."_

"_I know." Jake cleared his throat again and shifted in his chair as if he was uncomfortable. "Willow… Razel is still alive."_

_I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "I was afraid of that."_

"_The angle that he was fighting with that day that you and Alex saw was one of his little henchmen Charmaine. She was going to double cross him if they both lived after the council was destroyed. Only he tore her to shreds."_

"_Where is he?" I asked looking back up at him with troubled eyes._

"_He's back in Denver. He flew back to his nest after the fight. He thinks you guys are still in Mexico trying to find all of your body parts."_

"_So he might think we're all dead?"_

"_Oh no, he knows you're all alive. Especially you Willow. You might have been able to cut the tie between the two of you. But he still knows you're alive." Jake paused for a few minutes studying my face. "Willow… there's a couple more things I still need to tell you."_

_I nodded my head. "I understand. Whatever it is Jake, tell me."_

"_That earthquake back in Mexico didn't just happen there. It happened all over the _**world**. _The world's population has dropped drastically. I need for you when you wake up in the morning to go turn on the news and watch what's going on around the world. You need to tell Alex that he needs to go start looking for new recruits NOW. Don't let him wait any longer. You guys did a great job finding Nat. But now you need more. A damn truck load if you can get them. Got it?"_

"_I got it. But Jake, are you serious. People are dropping dead all over the world?"_

"_Yes. And not just that, Razel opened back up the gate at his cathedral and angels are pouring in by the damn minute. Alex needs to go scouting, tell him that, do you understand?"_

"_Yes." I shook my head slightly trying to wrap my mind around this. More angels… "But wait. When the council died half the angels in the world died too."_

"_Yea, in our world, but there are plenty more in there world. Look at it like this, there's two angels for one human right now… and now that Razel has opened back up that gate…"_

"_Those numbers are about to jump sky high." I finished his sentence in a whisper._

_Jake nodded his head. He looked down at his hands in his lap and I remembered that he had more to tell me._

"_What else?" I asked._

_Jake's jaw jumped as he looked up at me with apologetic eyes. He cleared his throat and in a gentle, slow voice said. "Willow, there's one more thing I need to tell you." I sat up a little straighter and nodded for him to continue. "Willow… your mom and your aunt… Willow, there dead." _

_My whole body jerked, and a scowl crept across my face. "What? No their not. Why would say something like that?"_

"_Yes they are Willow. Why would I lie about something like that?" His tone was gentle, his eyes were locked with mine, and slowly I started to realize he was telling me the truth._

"_No." I whispered. Tears jumped to my eyes, and I lurched forward holding my stomach, it felt like someone had just kicked me, and the wind was knocked out of my lungs. "No Jake, I made a connection with them… I… I'm psychic… Alex and I… we… and I..." I choked out around my sobs. _

"_No Willow, you made a connection with your memories. They died in the arson attack to your house."_

"_No!" I screamed. I buried my face in my hands and sobbed hard. Jake came around the table and put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him through blurred vision. "If their gone then why haven't they visited me?"_

"_It takes time Willow. I was there when they crossed over. I helped them walk into the light and find their way to peace. But they're not ready." Jake gave me pity eyes as he patted my shoulder._

"_They really are dead aren't they?" Jake just nodded his head. "How could I not have known? I thought I was making a connection every time. How could I not have known that it was just from memories?"_

"_I'm sorry Willow."_

_Jake sat knelt down next to me for a long time quietly as I cried. Finally when it seemed I was empty of my tears, at least in dream-world, I looked over at Jake and studied his face. I studied Alex I should say. _

"_Are they ok?" I asked him. Jake nodded his head quietly. "Will you promise me something Jake?"_

"_Sure."_

"_Will you look after them? Until I can come and do it myself, will you make sure they don't get into too much trouble?" I asked with a small smile._

"_Of course Willow. As long as you promise to help my little brother. Through everything, be that shoulder he needs, love him no matter what, be his best friend, be his other half, all of it. He loves you so much Willow, and he needs you."_

"_I love him too Jake. I love him so much. I promise, I'll take care of Alex, you have my word."_

_Jake smiled at me. "Deal." He stretched out his hand to me and I took it shaking hands sealing our deal. "I'm going to help you remember this dream when you wake up ok."_

_I nodded my head. "Should I tell Alex about it?"_

"_About this dream?"_

"_Yea, I mean, that you visited me and everything you told me."_

_He thought about this for a minute. "I think it might be better if you just tell him it was a vision. I don't know how he'd take it if you told him that, his brothers' ghost visited his girlfriend."_

_I gave a small laugh. "I think you're right. What if I want to talk to you again?"_

"_All you have to do is say out loud that you want to talk to me sometime during the day. I'll give you a sign anyway I can and let you know that I heard you. Then that night I'll come into your dream."_

"_That's it?" I asked skeptically raising an eyebrow at him._

_He chuckled. "Yup that's it. The suns about to come up and Alex wants you all to train with Nat today."_

"_So it's time for you to go." I cut in sadly. Jake nodded his head sadly. "Bye Jake."_

"_Until next time Willow." I stood up and gave Jake a hug. He turned and started to walk down the road until he vanished into thin air._

My eyes fluttered open to the view of Alex's sleeping face. Slowly I took his face in my hands and kissed his lips. I couldn't resist and I kissed him again. I peppered his face with kisses, and slowly Alex started to stir. He groaned and opened his eyes to me kissing his lips again. Alex tightened his hold around my waist and caught my lips with his.

"Good morning." I murmured against his mouth.

Alex smirked. "Good morning to you. This is a very nice way to wake up."

I kissed his cheek, and jaw line, up to his ear, and down to his neck. I buried my face in his neck and collar bone clinging to him tightly.

"I love you so much Alex." My voice coming out slightly muffled. Alex tightened his hold on me a little more and he buried his face into my hair. "I want you to know that I'm going to be by your side until the very end. We're a team, and I want to be your other half and help you through everything."

"Deal." Alex whispered into my ear.

We stayed like that for a little while longer, letting the sun rise up outside, the others start their day, and time around us to try and freeze this moment while we had it.

**NAT'S POV**

That night Nat had a dream of her own.

_She and Willow were out at the beach together enjoying a girl's day out. The lifeguards on duty that day just happened to be up to Nat and Willow's standards. Nat had her eyes on a hunky blue-eyed blond, while Willow had her eyes on a lean shaggy chocolate brown haired boy. _

_The girls set up their towels and made sure to do a big show of lathering up in front of their boy-toy lifeguards. They giggled, chit-chatted, and gossiped about everything under the sun. After a while Willow looked over at Nat and pulled off her big sunglasses._

"_I'm going to go find something to drink. Would you like anything?" Willow asked as she stood up and brushed sand off of her legs and arms._

"_Dr. Pepper if they've got it, otherwise just water." Nat replied with a sleepy voice not bothering to sit up for even look in Willow's direction._

"_No problem. Be right back" Willow yelled back._

_Nat lay under the bright sun soaking her skin in the rays. Slowly Nat felt herself falling asleep when what she thought were clouds go over her sun and case shadows on top of her._

"_Oh great here comes the clouds." She grumbled as she sat up, took off her sunglasses and glanced left and right for her hunky lifeguard._

"_No, not clouds." A female voice said from behind her. _That's not Willow _Nat thought to herself._

_Nat whipped her head around to look for the voice. What she found was not what she was expecting. _

"_Mom? Dad?" Nat whispered as her eyes grew wide, and her jaw fell open._

"_Hello Nattallina." Her dad said as he and his wife sat down in the sand next to her. "Nat we need to talk to you."_

"_Umm… ok." Nat said wiping tears from her eyes._

_Her mother reached over and brushed some sand from Nat's face and tucked some hair behind her ear. "You've grown up so much honey."_

_Nat tried to smile around her quivering lips, but couldn't find her voice, so all she did was nod her head._

"_Nat we're here to tell some important things, and to warn you." Her father said in his stern no nonsense voice. Instantly Nat's tears dried, her posture took on the frame of a soldier, and gave a curt nod for her father to continue. Jeremiah cleared his throat and went ahead. "Nat, the angel Razel, the one that burned down our camp, and the one Willow and Alex are determined to bring down is still alive."_

_Nat cursed under her breath and rubbed at her temples._

"_Watch your mouth young lady." Her mother said shaking a finger at her._

"_Sorry mom." Nat grumbled. She looked back over at her father and asked. "How do you know he's still alive? After what Alex and Willow told me I figured he died back in Mexico with the council."_

_Jeremiah shook his head. "No unfortunately he lived. He's back at his cathedral in Denver. This is where the important things start Nat. Razel has opened the gate to his world again, and is letting more and more angels in by the fucking minute."_

_Nat cursed under breath again. "What do I do? How can I stop him?"_

"_Nat you're not going to do this alone. That's why you're at this camp and you know it." Tara said sternly. She placed a hand on her daughters shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "We know you've been on your own for a long time honey, but believe us when we say that being with this team is where you're supposed to be."_

"_There's more that we need to tell you Nat." Jeremiah started. "People are dropping dead all over the world."_

"_What?" Nat asked horrified. _

_Jeremiah nodded his head solemnly to her. "All over the world. The earthquake that happened after the council died happened all over the world in major cities."_

"_That's why I didn't feel it here in Nevada." Nat stated._

"_Exactly. And because of that earthquake people are dropping dead, and a war against angels and humans is about to break loose. You have to help Alex find more recruits. The second the sun comes up in the morning you need to get everyone in the firing range and start teaching them everything you know. Do you understand me Nattallia?"_

"_Yes." Nat said with no hesitation. "But I'm not the leader here, and Alex and Willow are about to leave on Friday for New York, how am I going to help him if he's leaving?" _

"_Nat." Tara said gently. "Alex and Willow won't be going to New York."_

"_What do you mean?" Nat asked._

_Tara cleared her throat and glanced at her husband. "Willow's mother and aunt are dead. They didn't survive the fire to her home."_

"_What? No, Willow told me about her psychic connection with them." Nat argued._

"_No Nat, it's too complicated to explain but Willow was connecting with her memories. She has no more family." Tara said sadly._

"_When did Willow find out? Just today she was talking about going to New York. Who told her?"_

"_Like you, she was visited by someone." Jeremiah said._

"_What do you mean?" Nat asked looking at her parents skeptically. _

"_Nat you're dreaming right now, but you're not dreaming about us, we came here on our own." Tara said giving Nat a small sad smile._

_Nat glanced back left and right around them and found that everything was frozen. The birds in the sky, the waves, the people, even sexy Sam, all frozen in place. Nat looked back at her parents her eyebrows frowning._

"_Now I remember. You guys have done this before, when I decided to stop being an AK right?" She asked. Her parents both nodded their heads. "So then Willow was visited by her mother?"_

"_No. She was visited by Jake Kylar. Martin's first son." Jeremiah told her._

"_How come I never got to meet them? I mean you two were such good friends with the Kylar's, why wasn't I able to meet their kids?"_

"_There are some things out in the world, Nat, which you'll never be able to know. The four of us had our reasons, please understand that." Nat's mother told her. Nat just sighed and nodded her head. "Now Nat, the sun is going to be coming up soon, and I'm going to help you be able to remember this dream alright. When you wake up, go and turn on the news with everyone and watch what's going on, go it."_

_Nat gave her mother a curt nod. Her eyes softened as she started to understand that her time with her parents was coming to an end._

"_I really miss you guys. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about you." Nat said in a whisper as tears sprang to her eyes and her throat clenched tight._

"_We know Sprint." Her father said coming to her side and engulfing her in a big hug. "If you ever need us, or want to see us again, all you have to do is say out loud sometime during the day that you need us and we'll give you a sign that we heard you. Do you understand?"_

_Nat couldn't form words, she was silently sobbing into her father's shoulder, but she managed a nod. Tara came over slowly and joined Jeremiah in hugging Nat. They all sat that way for some time. Slowly Nat could hear birds chirping, and the tide slapping against the beach._

"_I guess this is good bye right?" Nat asked around her sobs wiping her cheeks clear of her tears._

"_Only for now," Tara said with a small smile wiping a tear on Nat's face away with her thumb. Tara and Jeremiah stood up brushing sand off of their clothes. "Remember whenever you need to talk to us just say it out loud and we'll give you a sign."_

"_Ok." Nat said softly._

_Jeremiah and Tara took hold of each other's hands and waved good bye to Nat. As they turned and headed up the beach they started to vanish into thin air right before Nat's eyes. Nat squeezed her eyes shut tightly, holding her stomach and tears streaming down her cheeks as she silently cried._

Nat's eyes fluttered open to the view of the ceiling above her. Wasting no time she threw the blanket off of her, jumped down off of her bunk and headed for the shower. Twenty minutes later she was freshly showered, shaved, deodorized, and dressed ready for her day.

"Wake up every one!" Nat yelled flicking on the lights to the bunk house, and make her way to Seb, Sam, and Liz throwing off there covers and shaking them awake. "You all have fifteen minutes to get up, shower, be dressed, and be in the canteen for breakfast. We'll be starting our training today, so everyone is going to fuel up grab a gun and head to the firing range. Let's get moving people!"


	12. Just an Authors Note! :)

Authors Note!

Hey lovely's! Soooo, this is just an author's note to bring everyone up to speed for a moment. Ok, so THANK YOU! To everyone who has favorite the story, added it to their story follow list! XD yaaayyy! Lol ok, so as my girl **Kavers101** already knows I JUST GOT ENGAGED! His name is Declan, and he purposed to me on May 18th 2013. XD Annndddddd, we moved back to New York, so ive been a little busy with moving and packing. Buttt I also have a new surprise! I just found out yesterday Friday, June 7, 2013.. **I'm PREGNANTT! AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!**

Ok, so I've gotten a bunch of pms, about the story that I'd like to clear up for everyone.

**What's the relation between Alex and Nat?** Nat and Alex are not related at all. Their parents were friends, but they are in no way related.. ;)

**Where did Nat come from?** Ok, well I'll be honest and open with you guys. When I was nine, ten, eleven, and a little bit when I was twelve, I had an imaginary friend named Nat who was a half human half werewolf demon.. (I watched a lot of InuYasha)

**What did you mean in chapter 10 about being personal to you? **Well, like Nat in the story, when I was seven and living in Brooklyn the apartment building my parents and I, and some other families were living in caught fire. My parents were killed and so were many of the other families in the building. In total including me, only 4 people lived from the tragic happening. Like in the story it was arson. The police to this day don't have any clue who or why.

**What's going to happen with Seb?** To be honest…? I'm thinking of killing off Seb. I'm a die-hard Alex! (#TEAMALEX!) BUTTTTTTTT my girl **Kavers101 **doesn't want me to kill him off… soooooooooooooooooo I'm going to be nice and keep him around! But I need some suggestions. I got a few from my girl, but I'd like to hear what other people have to say about it, and what you guys would like to see! TELL ME!

**What's your favorite song?** Lady GaGa – Speechless & Born This Way. I have a Born This Way tattoo on my arm!

Ok. I think that's all of the questions I got.. I cant remember off of the top of my head. Lol. ALSO! Heads up guys. I'm going to start a couple new fics! AHH! One is going to be about the Hush, Hush series.. if you haven't read them.. **GET ON ITTTT! **ALSOOOOOO! I'm going to do another Angel Burn-fic, BUT! Its going to be a cross-over! Of what you may ask? I'm not telling! :P **MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.**

Alright lovely's I have to go to work. Gotta go save some more lives today. (I'm an RN at a hospital here in Brooklyn. So if you ever hurt yourselves come see me! …. Omg JK! Don't hurt yourselves! BE SUPER CAREFUL PLEASE!) bahahaha.. I love you guys! BYEEEEEE! …. May the angels be with you! Bahaha! :)


	13. Chapter 12 - The Shared Vision

"**Wake up every one!" Nat yelled flicking on the lights to the bunk house, and made her way to Seb, Sam, and Liz throwing off their covers and shaking them awake. "You all have fifteen minutes to get up, shower, be dressed, and be in the canteen for breakfast. We'll be starting our training today, so everyone is going to fuel up, grab a gun, and head to the firing range. Let's get moving people!"**

**-Back to Willow—**

"Damn I really didn't think we we're going to be going that hard on the first day." Sam said around his panting as he poured water on the back of his neck and chest to cool off.

**-This Morning-**

Everyone was piled up in the firing range, making a circle around Nat and Alex, as the two of them looked over us loading our guns. The firing range, compared to the one back in Mexico, is gorgeous.

"Alright everyone line up on this row of tape I've put down." Nat said pointing to a thin strip of orange electrical tape. "I want to see how you all perform with standing still targets, and then we'll move on to moving targets."

We all made our way behind the tape, Sam winking at Nat before he took his place.

"Alex what are you doing?" Nat asked putting her hands on her hips and looking at him as if he was crazy. "I said everyone. That includes you. Go."

"I don't think I need any practice." He scoffed.

"Thinking and knowing are two different things. Get in the lineup." Nat arched a perfect eyebrow to him.

Alex rolled his eyes and made his way next to me. Liz and I were giggling.

"No, no Alex." Nat grabbed Alex by the arm and pulled him down the line separating the two of us. "You and Willow will distract each other. You can't be partners, or stand next to each other." She put Alex next to Sam at the end of the line.

Alex looked down the line at me, and I shrugged my shoulders at him.

"Ok guys with the safety on I want you to show me your holding stance."

Everyone got into their own stances. To my right Liz put two hands on her gun, slightly put a squint to her eyes, and squared her shoulders. To my left Seb held his gun with one hand, feet apart, and held his eyes just slightly to the left of the target. And me? Well I (pretended) moved my hands to hold my gun firmly between my hands, like I knew what I was doing (yea right…). I tried to follow Liz's movements and hold my gun the way she did.

I saw Nat from the corner of my eye, to the left of me down at Alex examining his form, straightening his body slightly, and whisper something low in his ear. Alex relaxed his body and put his gun away. Then she moved on to Sam doing the same thing. Only Sam must have said something back, something the rest of us couldn't hear, because Nat turned the brightest shade of red I've ever seen (it was actually kind of cute).

Next was Seb, she spoke to him in Spanish, straightened out his arm slightly, and turned his body just the slightest. Seb nodded his head and lowered his gun. Nat skipped me completely and headed for Liz. She worked on helping square Liz's shoulders, planting her feet firmly, and (trying but failing) to hold her hands steady. Like all the others Nat spoke in a low voice next to her ear, giving Liz pointers and details.

_Why did she skip me?_ my inner voice called out. Am I not important?

Just as the thought rolled around in my head Nat came to stand next to me. She eyed the way I had my arms stretched out, feet planted shoulder width apart. She nodded her head, I think, more to herself then to me. She inspected my grip on the gun. The only real adjustment she made to me was my fingers around the gun. Loosening them up from the handle of the gun, (I had a death grip on it).

Nat stood behind me, and just like everyone else she whispered to me, very close to my ear, and something in her voice sent a chill down my spine. "I need to have a conversation with you, Willow." She said before turning and heading back down the line towards Sam, as calm as ever.

**-Now -**

.

"Oh please Sam, she barely worked you." Seb teased after taking a long swig from his water bottle. Sam smirked, the water bottle against his lips.

Nat had us all in the firing range for hours this morning. Only giving us two breaks and that was just for water. Shehad us working hard; showing her what he knew how to do, and then what we needed to improve on it (even Alex had something's he needed to work on). Then came what she knew, and what she said we'd be learning in the upcoming days… I wasn't really looking forward to it. Finally it was after one in the afternoon, and Nat let us go to the canteen for food, unfortunately not everyone made it. Nat was with Alex and Liz in the firing range working on Liz's handling of a gun. Apparently there were a few things she needed to work on (other than her stance… I have a feeling Nat doesn't like Liz…?)

Right now I'm sitting with Sam and Seb outside of the canteen in the sand and sun, trying to catch our breaths and giving our aching muscles a break.

"Hey Sam, do you think you can give Seb and I a minute alone please?" I asked nicely. Sam nodded, got up to his feet and headed towards the bunk house. I cleared my throat and glanced over at Seb, he sat watching me with curious eyes.

"Yes Willow?" Curiosity laced all through his voice.

"Seb can I ask you something and you promise not to laugh at me?" He nodded his head and sat up a little straighter. "Seb…do you… well…" I sighed "do you believe in ghosts?" My voice came out as quiet as a whisper but I couldn't bring myself to look at him.

He sat quiet for a long time thinking it over. Birds flew overhead, dust rode with the wind, and a small cloud drifted in front of the sun, just for a moment, giving off small shade. Finally, after what felt like years he answered softly. "Well, I guess my answer is yes. I mean, angels are real, why wouldn't ghosts right?"

I pulled my knees up to my chest, hugged them tightly and rested my forehead against them. What came next was harder to say out loud to anyone than I thought it was going to be. "My aunt and mom are dead Seb. I don't think Alex and I will be going to New York."

I still hadn't told Alex about the dream, nor had I done what Jake asked and turned on the news. _Sorry Jake! I'm just not ready._

"Willow, why would you say such a thing? You do-," I looked over at him with tears pooling in my eyes and running down my face, and he stopped what he was saying. He studied my face for a few quiet moments. I opened my mind up to him and sent him a silent message telling him it was ok to look into my mind. I showed him my dream, or what I found out really. I left out the part about Jake as best as I could. Slowly Seb's eyes grew enormous and his mouth fell open.

"Mi Dios…" He whispered with horror running in his eyes and her racked a hand through his hair.

"Seb… what do I do?" I whispered to him. My body started to shake with tremors and tears were falling to my chin, running down my neck.

Just then the door to the firing range swung open and out walked Alex, Nat and Liz. Nat was the first one to look at me, the way her eyes connected with mine told me she knew something… something the others didn't. As the three of them got closer to where Seb and I were sitting, I started to panic. I wasn't ready to tell Alex about the dream. About any of it.

I jumped up to my feet and ran to the small apartment Alex and I share, ignoring the shouts from them to 'come back' and 'wait a second.' Once inside the small apartment I looked all through the drawers of the side nightstand and in the bathroom. Coming back into the bedroom I found what I was looking for on top of the small dresser next to Alex's gun holster. The keys to the Jeep.

Grabbing the keys I bolted from the apartment back into the heat, and ran for my life to the Jeep. Everyone must have been in the canteen looking for food, because I didn't hear any protest of my leaving, or I just didn't hear them over the ringing in my ears.

.

.

Twenty minutes later I was sitting in an abandoned gas station, my head against the steering wheel, the AC blasting - crying my eyes out.

_My family is gone. I don't even know if Nina is ok. How am I going to get through this? I never even got to say goodbye…_ That last thought is what really had me breaking. I'm not strong like Alex and Nat and all the others… _Mom I'm so sorry I failed you and Aunt Jo… I don't blame you for not wanting to visit me, I wouldn't want to either. Mom I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you like I always promised I would… _

Sobs raked through my body harder than I've ever cried before. I closed my eyes and let the tears fall down my face, let the AC blast the heat from my cheeks, and let time pass me by.

.

.

I don't remember falling asleep, it was one of those naps where you don't even have a dream, but when I woke up, it was dark outside and there was a bright light blinding me. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, blinked to try and set the focus back to my vision, I suddenly realized I was freezing. Quickly I turned off the A/C. very surprised that the Jeep hadn't run out of gas, but as I checked the gas gauge my hunch wasn't too far from. The needle sat just barely over the quarter tank line. When I left the camp the gas tank was full. Wow…

As I settle back in my seat, taking deep breaths to steady my slight shakes from the cold, and rubbing my hands up and down my arms I finally got a good look out the front window. The bright light blinding my eyes – from what I could tell – was not just any light. They were head lights. As my eyes settled fully and the glare from the window finally settled, I saw a figure silhouetted against the head lights of the car. The car was low to the ground and whoever was leaning against the car looked like they had an attitude.

The person pushed off from the car, and as they got closer to the Jeep I started to make out the shape of the person's body. The first thing I saw was hips. _Ok, it's a girl_ I told myself. Is it Liz?

My thoughts were answered as the person cupped her hands around her face and leaned against the passenger window. It was Nat.

"Willow open up." She said calmly but loud enough I could hear her.

I leaned over the center console silently and slowly and pulled up the lock. Instantly Nat was inside the Jeep, wrapped in the leather interior, starring out the front window. I felt like I was a small child in front of a teacher who caught me doing something bad. I turned my body away and sat starring down at my hands in my lap.

"How mad is he?" I asked Nat quietly not looking at her.

"Alex?" she chuckled softly, "Don't worry about him. I told him I knew where you went and that it had something to do with a girl thing. He understood, but he finally sent me to come see if you're ok."

Slowly I looked up from my hands to Nat. All I could see was her profile, but I could see the small laugh on her face.

"I'm sorry I took off like that." Guilt was finally hitting me. I had taken off so quickly; I hadn't even stopped to think for one millisecond if I was in danger, or if Alex was going to be worried about me.

"Willow don't apologize to me. In fact don't apologize to anyone. Ever. Again. You hear me." She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest, tossing her shoes to the floor. Little pink socks with Hello Kitty all over them – not what I was expecting – she stretched her arms over her head, and finally turned towards me with a smile on her face.

"What did you mean by you wanted to have a '_conversation_' with me?" There, I said it, now we can get the awkward out of the way. And oh how it did. Her smile fell and her eyes turned sad.

Nat cleared her throat and slowly let out a breath from between her teeth, "I'm so sorry about your family Willow."

My whole body jerked and a feeling as if Nat had just hit me with a bus came washing over me. How did she know? I didn't…. "Did Seb tell you?"

Her eyebrows started to frown together in confusion. "Huh? No. Wait, did you tell him?"

"Yes I did, but I didn't tell you… so how do you know?" I was almost _scared_ to hear her answer.

"I… well it's hard to explain." Nat shifted in her seat, her whole body screamed that she was uncomfortable. "I um, well you see, I know about it because…" she sighed and cursed under her breath and tucked some hair behind her ear, "Ok look Willow, don't think I'm weird or anything, but last night I had a dream, but not just any kind of dream… I was visited by my parents and they told me that you were visited by Jake and that he told you about the war, the angels, Raziel (**A/N; Yea I got it right this time. Lmaoooo!) **and his twisted fucking mind, and then about your family, and Willow I'm so sososososososososososoososososososososo sorry about your family. I know how you feel really I do, and I'll be here for you if you ever want to talk." Her words came out in one fast breath, so as she sat panting to catch her breathing up to normal rate, it took me a minute to replay slowly in my head what she just said.

She knows about Jake. She had a visit just like me…

"Nat" I whispered as I stared at her wide eyed and slightly trembling. I'm not ready for this. It wasn't until I finally blinked that I realized I was crying. Suddenly thick hot tears rolled down my face and just like a few hours ago I started to sob all over the steering wheel.

I felt Nat place a hand on my shoulder and give it a slight squeeze. But she didn't say anything. She sat there, quiet, and comfortable, and let me cry my eyes out until I was done. When I sat up and started to raise a hand towards my face Nat stopped my hand and handed me a towel.

"Thank you," I managed to crook out. I wiped off my face on the towel, made a disgusting noise as I blew my nose in it. When I was done Nat took the towel without saying a word and threw it in the back seat. I sat with my hands in my lap, my head down, trying to tell myself on repeat not to start crying again.

"Willow, I want you to know that you can come to me with anything. I mean it anything at all. Death, life, your parents, the weather, small talk, girl talk, celebrity gossip, help with gun work, help with anything." She paused for a moment. "I don't know how much of a help I'll be when it comes to boys… but I can give you my input and opinion whenever you want it."

"How did you work through it? I mean, you said you were seven… how does a seven year old try to work through something like that?"

She sat quiet for a while as she thought. I could feel the emotions radiating off of her. I could feel she was thinking of happy moments from her _very_ brief childhood, the anger she felt and hurt and worry that tumbled into one as she tried to figure out at a young age what she was going to do next.

"It wasn't easy at first." Her words came out soft almost dream-like the way they just flowed from her. "I was angry all the time. Even as a kid. I remember, I think, I went through, about, a little over three years, where I literally didn't say one word to anyone. Not even my aunt. Then when she died and I was truly alone, left with no one next to me," she chuckled to herself quietly "This might sound kind of crazy, but after my aunt died, my gun became my best friend. I'm sure Alex has felt that same feeling before at one point in his life. It's not a fun feeling. But it helped me."

We both sat quietly together looking out into the night as best we could around her headlights from her car. After a while I looked down to the clock on the radio.

"Wow, it's after two in the morning already." Trying to break the silence, I gave a small awkward chuckle.

"Willow, this might sound kind of corny, or cheesy, but I look at you as my best friend. I've never felt a connection with someone the way I instantly did with you back at the diner. And the thing is… when I first saw you standing there at the sink, I thought, 'this girl has something to do with me' I haven't gotten a feeling like that in a long time. You have to understand something too. When my camp burnt down it took away all of my friends, I haven't had a true friend in over ten years. But meeting you, then Alex," Nat started to blush. "and then Sam… and the others, I feel like I finally belong."

"You do belong with us Nat." I whispered to her placing a hand on her arm lightly. I might be hurting on the outside in hiding, but Nat has to put on a front even in hiding, she has to stay strong for herself. Otherwise… she'd of broke down a long time ago and the two of us wouldn't be sitting here right now.

"For some reason Willow, I feel like I've known you my whole life. Or like, this might sound funny, but maybe in a past life we were best friends. The second I saw you, it felt as if a calming blanket was thrown over me. I feel this need to protect you. To make sure Raziel doesn't show his fucking face around here and if he does, that I'll kill him." She had been looking down at her knees, twiddling her thumbs.

Nat looked up at me, and when our eyes connected something happened.

..

_Nat and I were sitting on the side of a pool, our legs in the water, floppy hats and sunglasses on, the sun shining bright overhead. Nat was wearing a cute blue and yellow two piece bathing suit and me in a gray tank-top and shorts. The two of us were laughing and giggling about something funny. Across the water Seb and Alex were sitting at a small table playing cards, both only wearing swim trunks and covered in bandages. A little to the left of Seb and Alex were two very tan, very muscular guys cooking on a grill. And to the right of Alex and Seb is where a guy and a girl giving each other small kisses in a hammock. _

"_I can't wait until all my wounds are fully healed; I'm so fucking sick of these bandages." Nat said with a dreamy sigh picking at the bandage that covered her forearm._

"_I know what you mean. When I asked Alex to change the bandages on my back last night, I thought all of my skin was going to peel off with it." Nat and I both giggled at that._

"_I'm glad to see Nina's getting along nicely with Gabe." Nat said pointing to the couple kissing in the hammock. _

_I chuckled softly and looked over towards the hammock, "Me too. I thought she was going to kill him when they first met." I chuckled and took in a deep breath through my nose. "Hey do you smell that? It smells like bacon."_

_Nat took off her sunglasses and let her hair down out of her clip. "Sam said he wanted bacon for his burger, so he went in with Kate to make some when she said she was going to get the sides ready."_

"_I hope he doesn't burn the place down." Nat and I bust out laughing._

"_What's so funny?" A male voice asked from behind. I looked up and over my shoulder to see Alex standing over us with an eyebrow raised and his sexy half smile and his swim trunks hanging low on his hips (yum)._

"_Sam is cooking." Nat stated. Alex burst into a laugh while Nat and I started giggling again._

"_That is funny. Hey Willow can you come help me with something?" Alex asked holding out a hand for me._

"_Of course" I grabbed his hand and let him pull me up to my feet and instantly towards the house. "I'll be back Nat." I yelled out to her._

"_Take your time" she yelled back._

_Alex led me through the house, up a flight of steps, down a hall, and up another small flight of steps. After flicking on the lights to our new bedroom and kicking off his shoes Alex instantly pulled me to him and enveloped my body in his arms, my hands finding their way to his hair._

"_What did you need help with?" I asked around giggles, Alex's hands tickling the skin of my lower back_

"_I haven't kissed you in almost forty-five minutes, I need help fixing that." He said in between the kisses he peeked to my chin, neck, throat, and under my ear. I giggled as his breath tickled my neck and I literally felt his smile against my skin. His hands moved to my hips hugging them tight but not too tight to his body, he was being very careful about my injuries from the other day._

_When our lips finally found each other again it was like fire being splashed with gasoline. My hands tightened in his hair, sealing his mouth against mine so in some way we were one. And when our tongues touched, just for that brief second, it was pure bliss. I sighed in pleasure into Alex's mouth and his response was a growl of approval. He plunged his tongue into my mouth and my head went foggy. _

"_Alex," I moaned into his mouth as his hands slowly inched up my body towards my breasts, his touch leaving a burning hot trail in their wake. And my response to him was my hips pressing against him. Hard._

"_Come here." He growled against my lips, and guided me backwards, our lips never leaving each other. He stopped us when the backs of my knees hit the bed._

_We didn't lie down just yet; we stood there for I don't know how long kissing and touching. Finally Alex laid me down, slowly and gently, on the bed. He crawled up my body, trailing kisses up my sensitive skin and pushing up my shirt as he went. His tongue swirled around my navel, and very slowly and teasingly he dipped it in, before continuing his hot trail up my body._

"_Alex, I don't hurt that badly, you can put your weight on me." I said softly to him as I ran my fingers through his hair._

"_I don't want to hurt you Willow." He said against my stomach. _

_I placed my hand under his chin and tilted his face to look at me. "I know you would never hurt me on purpose Alex. Please, I need you." I whispered to him._

_Alex smiled softly. And slowly he sank his weight on top of me as I linked my legs around his hips and my lips to his._

…

….

…

It felt as if I had been thrown against the Jeep window. I sat holding my head with both hands fighting off a headache, trying to catch my breath and groaned. As I sat up straight and looked over at Nat she was looking at me as if I had a third arm growing from my chest, rubbing her temples.

"What. The. Fuck. Was. That..?" her tone half scared, half angry.

"I have no idea." I whispered back to her. "I think…" I swallowed my throat very dry. "I think maybe it was a vision."

Instantly Nat's eyebrows frowned together. "How? I can't have visions I'm not psychic."

"I don't know." I paused for a moment and could feel my face beginning to heat up. "What did you see?"

Nat blushed all the way to her roots and looked away from me. "Umm.. well, first I saw you and me by a pool, then Alex came and whisked you away, then Sam came up, and the next thing I know he and I are kissing."

That's not what I saw… "We had different visions." I said in a low voice. "It was the same up until Alex came in, my vision went with me and Alex, and yours stayed with you and Sam. How weird."

"We need to get back to the camp, it's time to tell everyone about the war, and Raziel, and everything else. It's almost four in the morning. If Alex asks I took you on a hunt, got it?" she said in a hurry tone, but she didn't let me answer, she was already sliding out of the door and running for her Porsche.

..

…

…

"Go wake up Alex, and I'll get the others, meet in the canteen in five minutes." Nat shouted at me as she slammed her car door shut, hit the lock on her keys, and walked towards the bunk house.

"I'm on it." I called back to her.

As I stepped inside the small apartment I found Alex half asleep sitting on top of the blanket resting against the headboard. As I shut the door behind me his head shot up in my direction and it looked as if he was trying to let his eyes settle out of sleep.

"Alex, I know its la-"

"Where have you been?" He asked all in his voice was the sound of sleep. He stood up off the bed and made his way towards me. I meet him half way and he studied my face for a moment before asking again, "Where have you been?"

"Nat took me on a hunt." I said simply.

That got his attention. His eyes opened wide and he raked his hands on me, spinning me around, looking me up and down. "What? Are you hurt?"

I turned back around and caught him by the wrists. Giving him a smile I said, "No, I'm fine. She picked up on a couple of angels and we took care of them. But that's not important right now. We need to have a team meeting, _now_." I tugged on his arm for him to follow me.

He stopped me just before I opened the door. Turning me around and holding me close to his body he brushed his lips against my forehead. "Are you sure you're ok? I don't want you to feel like you have to cover anything up just to please me or anyone else."

"Yes I promise I'm alright."

..

…

..

Well it happened. Nat and I explained to everyone my visions. Alex wasn't too happy that I hadn't told him about them sooner, but he understood. (No I didn't tell him about Jake, just all the info I got out of Jake.) It was decided that Nat was going to go do a little scouting for the rest of the week. And Alex… well its better if I tell you how it happened…

"Ok, while Nat is gone Sam and Seb, you two are going to hold down the camp." Alex said no-nonsense-leader voice. I snapped my head in his direction and tried to communicate with him through my eyes. But I think he knew it because he made sure to _not_ look in my direction.

"Where are you going?" Nat asked with a small tilt of her head.

"I'm going to Denver. It's time to put a stop to Raziel and his damn games." He said.


End file.
